


Old Paragon

by exarkhos



Series: Paragon [3]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Non-Canonical Canon Divergence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-28
Updated: 2017-10-28
Packaged: 2019-01-25 08:00:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 40,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12526684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exarkhos/pseuds/exarkhos
Summary: This is the really old, outdated version of Paragon I wrote for NaNoWriMo in 2015. It's a transcription of in-game RP... but a lot has changed since then and most of this isn't even canon for Aphadas (Sith Warrior) and Nisur (Bounty Hunter) anymore! I just wanted to put it up so I could stop having to dig through my files every time I want to read it.This has never been edited. It's probably riddled with errors, and editing notes to myself LOL. Read at your own risk.Better version (which has nearly identical first chapters, just with better writing) can be found here:http://archiveofourown.org/works/8491933/chapters/19460944





	1. Chapter 1

**Paragon  
November 2015**

Chapter One:  
The Black Talon

There was a woman speaking Huttese over the intercom. Aphadas wasn't paying attention to her – he did not speak Huttese – but was busying himself with the wrapper of a ration bar. His meaty fingers had trouble getting the cellophane open without sending the bar flying. Something he desperately did not want to do, as the floor of the Black Talon's passenger bay did not look very clean. After struggling long enough, he felt smaller hands gingerly extract the bar from his own and followed the bar with his eyes as Vette took it and deftly opened it, all without looking at him.

“You're a saviour,” Aphadas rasped.

“I know.” Vette patted his arm and handed the bar back to him.

Aphadas took it and pulled off his mask so he could eat, revealing his prosthetic lower jaw and the scars that covered most of his face. He didn't think about them too much, but he saw the look a Rodian sitting near them gave him. He looked like a freak. Aphadas focused on the bar, chewing it and swallowing.

Through a mouthful, he asked, “Where are we going?”

“Dromund Kaas, to meet with this Lord Baras,” Vette answered him. “Do you remember?”

Aphadas shrugged. Not really, but he knew that it didn't matter if he remembered. As long as he did his job, pleased the Sith council, he would have opportunity to fight. That was all he wanted. “Okay.”

“Phada, that's not an answer,” Vette chided him. “Do you remember?”

“No, but you do.”

Vette sighed and shook her head. Aphadas sank back against the wall, trying to make his bulk look smaller than it was. A hard thing to manage when one was nearly seven feet tall and made entirely of muscle. He stood out in most crowds, which he enjoyed and made more obvious by his bright red and black combat leathers. Right now, however, he wanted to disappear. “I don't remember, I apologize.”

“It's alright,” Vette said. She patted his arm again. “We're doing just fine.”

“Alright,” Aphadas sighed.

He considered a nap to pass the time. They were on one of the fastest shuttles in the galaxy, but the trip from the Imperial Fleet to Dromund Kaas was still a fair distance. Long enough that he could catch a few winks of sleep before he was expected to be presentable, to meet this... The sith lord that had requested an audience with him.

“Hey, Vette, I'm-” Aphadas did not get to finish informing her of his plan. His comm unit beeped loudly and startled them both. Aphadas looked down at it, in place at his belt right next to his main-hand lightsabre, and then yanked it off his belt when it beeped again.

“Oh good, someone else wants something,” Vette grumbled. “Tell them we can't.”

Aphadas chuckled and pressed the answer button. A small person appeared in the holocall and Aphadas squinted at him. “Can I help you?”

“Lord Aphadas, I apologize for the sudden call. My name is Moff [..], and I must request your assistance.”

“I don't know you.”

“No, my lord, you do not. We heard you were on board the Black Talon and thought that your aid could be acquired. It is a matter of urgency, time is of the essence and since you are already on board-”

“What do you want me to do?” Aphadas glowered at the man. With his mask off, the sharp metal of his jaw always served to make him look extra intimidating.

“We have been making an effort to acquire the use of this vessel for a retrieval mission. A Republic cruiser called the Brentaal Star is carrying a Jedi Knight wanted for crimes against the Empire is within the vicinity and the Black Talon is the only ship in the area that could reach them in time to intercept.”

“A jedi?” Aphadas looked to Vette, who shrugged at him. She seemed intrigued, but he often had trouble telling. “Will I have to fight?”

“You will be required to board the Republic cruiser and retrieve the Jedi, yes.”

Aphadas shrugged. “Alright. Fill in my associate with the details.”

He shoved the holocomm at Vette, who gave him a look and then proceeded to talk to the moff. Aphadas listened, but he was already beginning to drift. Vette would get all the information he needed and guide him along, he knew, but he still tried to focus on the conversation.

“We have acquired the aid of a bounty hunter who is also on board. You will need the support when you enter the Brentaal. You will meet him on the way to the bridge. Your first goal should be to acquire the aid of the ship – the captain has refused so far. If need be, you may use force.”

“Alright,” Vette said. “We can do that.”

“Very good. Once you have acquired the ship, you must jump to coordinates and find a way on board the Republic cruiser. From there, your mission objective is simple: Find the Jedi knight and return him to Imperial custody.”

After a few more words, Vette turned off the holocall and tapped Aphadas on the arm. “Let's go find this bounty hunter,” she said. “This sounds like it might be fun.”

Aphadas nodded. He stood up and helped Vette to her feet. She looked tiny next to him, not even reaching his shoulder, but Aphadas knew she was capable. She'd saved his life more than once. He trusted her and enjoyed working with her, but this bounty hunter. He did not know what to think, so instead of worrying about it he focused on repeating the details of the mission to himself as he followed Vette away from the crowd and towards one of the halls leading off into the ship.

***

Short. The man arguing with a member of the Black Talon's crew was short. Aphadas stared at him as they walked up, and the man wheeled around when they were close enough. He had on a helmet, Aphadas could not see his face, something he did not enjoy. Aphadas' mask only covered the lower portion of his face, fitting snugly over his nose and his jaw – keeping dust and debris out of his prosthetic.

“Are you the sith?” the man demanded, and Aphadas realized he must be the bounty hunter.

“Yes,” Aphadas replied.

“This man doesn't seem to be aware that you're to take charge of this ship.” He sounded annoyed, Aphadas had a feeling that this mission was going to be more tiresome than he had originally planned.

“I am to take charge of the ship,” Aphadas said. He looked at the crew member the bounty hunter had been arguing with. Towered over him. “We need to speak to the captain.”

“Look, the captain doesn't want to risk it- We've already talked to your military and refused!”

“I don't think you get much choice in the matter, anymore,” the bounty hunter snarled back.

Aphadas shook his head. “We need to speak to the captain.”

“I've been given orders to not allow you past,” the crew member stood his ground.

The bounty hunter growled loudly and threw up his hands. Aphadas heard another exasperated sigh and turned his head slightly, looking down. The bounty hunter had a girl with him, who looked just as annoyed as her boss. She was fiddling with a datapad, glaring at the crew member.

Vette sighed heavily. “If you do not let us through, we have been given orders to use force. We don't want to do that.”

“I want to do that,” the bounty hunter snarled. “And I don't have any higher ups to answer to. No one said I had to keep anyone on board this ship alive in order to get paid.”

“Please, I don't want to cause a scene- but you must understand that I cannot let you-”

He didn't get to finish his line. Aphadas had drawn one of his lightsabers and stuck it through his stomach before anyone else could blink. He, himself, had not even really registered doing it. The man dropped to the ground as Aphadas withdrew the blade. Everyone stared at him.

“Let's go,” he grumbled and stepped over the smoking body, heading for the bridge.

“Yikes,” he heard the girl mumble, but she got no reply from anyone as they headed out. 

They reached the bridge with only some resistance. Guards were sent out to stop them, but they backed down when they saw Aphadas. He had that effect on people, his stature alone enough to stop a fight from occurring sometimes, but when he outright growled at the guards they didn't know what to do. Guns were hesitantly lowered and they stepped aside to let the small group pass.

“Man's feral,” Aphadas heard the bounty hunter growl behind him. “This is why I hate working with Sith.”

The bounty hunter was shushed by his small companion, and Aphadas felt Vette put a hand on his arm. He looked down at her, raised his eyebrows as he wondered what she wanted. Vette smiled.

“Maybe tone it down a touch there, Phada. We're almost at the bridge.”

Aphadas nodded. He relaxed his posture and looked up. The bridge doors up ahead were open, and there was no one blocking their path. He realized that he would have to talk to the crew, convince them to let them take control of the ship or slaughter them all. Aphadas' step faltered and he looked around, to the bounty hunter just a few paces behind him.

“Can you do the talking? I am... Not so great with diplomacy.”

“I can tell.” The bounty hunter holstered his gun. “Diplomacy will cost extra.”

Aphadas snorted. “Fine.”

The bounty hunter took the lead and Aphadas followed close behind him, with Vette and the girl taking up the rear. He heard the two girls exchange a few words, but his ears were beginning to buzz from excitement and he couldn't pick the words out over it. The bridge staff watched them wearily as they marched towards the command podium, where a man Aphadas guessed to be the Black Talon's captain stood with his arms crossed over his chest. He was trying to look big, but anyone with eyes could tell he was terrified.

“I am going to request you leave my bridge,” the captain shouted at them before they were even half-way across the room.

The bounty hunter did not stop, so Aphadas didn't either. Their boots echoed on the metal floor, the room was that quiet. Aphadas glanced down at the bounty hunter. They cut an intimidating pair, he thought, as they walked. Their armour was similar colours and both wore some sort of mask. Aphadas likes it when things matched, but Vette usually refused to wear red. She always told him that it didn't go well with her complexion. Aphadas was just about to tell the bounty hunter this when he heard a gun click and he was dragged back to reality.

The blaster in the captain's hand was pointed at him. He snarled under his breath, putting a hand to the lightsaber on his left hip.

“Stop that,” the bounty hunter snapped.

“If you shoot at him, he's just going to kill you and your crew.” Vette stepped up beside Aphadas and glared up at the captain. Aphadas nodded his agreement.

The captain hesitated before he relented. He put his blaster away, stepped back and with a gesture, invited them up onto the command podium. Aphadas smirked behind his mask, but said nothing. He saw Vette's face and knew that she was gloating a little, too. He wondered what the bounty hunter's face looked like. He would have to ask him when they got a moment. 

“This mission the Empire wants to send my ship on, you do know it is suicide, don’t you?” The captain glowered at them all and Aphadas smiled back out of some kind of spite. Even if he knew the captain couldn’t see it. Not that his smiles looked like much, thanks to the metal that tugged at the muscles of his face. 

“For what it’s worth, I do not care.” The bounty hunter gestured at the controls of the ship. “Have you decided to let us commandeer your vessel, or are we going to have to do some more convincing?” 

“There are civilians on board this ship, you know. What about them?”

“There are always casualties in war,” Aphadas mumbled. He saw the bounty hunter glance at him, saw the captain raise his eyebrows, and he realized that he’d spoken allowed. He furrowed his brow. “We have to make sacrifices.” 

He liked sounding smart. It so rarely happened these days, Vette was too hard to impress and he had taken to not speaking when they ran an errand for Darth Noll, leaving most of the negotiating to Vette. She was much more personable than him, for numerous reasons. 

“What he said.” The bounty hunter inclined his head. 

The captain glanced around at his crew. “If I say no?”

“The sith does his thing with his lightsaber.”

The captain swallowed. “I suppose I don’t have much choice.”

“Good man.” 

Together, they stepped up onto the podium and crossed to the control console. Vette, who was proficient at ships and ship-related things, busied herself with something to do with ships while the others hung back. “Captain, can you get the crew to prepare to jump us into hyperspace? I’ve already entered the coordinates.” 

The captain nodded and turned to one of the other members of the Black Talon’s crew who were milling about nervously. He barked orders at them, and for a moment Aphadas didn’t have to focus on what was happening. They would jump to the coordinates and, most likely, engage in a firefight. It was pretty standard fare for him at this point in his life. He turned to look at the bounty hunter. 

“Do you speak huttese?” 

“What?” 

The bounty hunter turned to face him, arms crossing over his chest. He quirked his hip a bit when he stood like that. Aphadas was a soldier, he stood with his feet firmly planted, but shifted to mimic the bounty hunter. He knew it would put him more at ease, or at least hoped it would. 

“You don’t have an Imperial accent,” Aphadas pointed out. “And you don’t sound Mandalorian. I was wondering if you spoke Huttese.” 

“What the frell does that have to do with anything?”

“Nothing, I-” Aphadas hesitated. “There was a woman making an announcement in Huttese earlier. I was wondering if you could understand her.” 

He was pretty sure that if he could have seen the bounty hunter’s face, his eyebrows would have gone up. Instead he just stared at the blank helmet visor and wondered what he was thinking. He heard a giggle and looked over to the girl, who covered her mouth when Aphadas caught her laughing. 

“Oh no! I didn’t- I’m sorry I wasn’t laughing at you, uh, sir?” The girl ducked her head in apology. 

Aphadas realized he was probably glaring at her. He tried his best to soften his face, not sure if it really did anything. “I’m not angry,” he said. 

“In all honesty, he probably forgot you were there,” Vette said. She came up to them and patted Aphadas on the arm. “Stop asking weird questions, Phada. You’ll weird out the help.” 

“I did not forget.” I am just not used to people laughing… Aphadas glanced down at his feet, then around as the engines grew louder. The ship was entering a hyperspace jump. He watched as the stars outside blurred to lines and felt the usual lurch of his stomach from the momentum of the jump. 

The captain was making an announcement to the rest of the ship’s passengers over the ship’s comm system, which Aphadas ignored. Vette was talking again, and he was much more concerned about what she had to say than what the cowardly man who captained the Black Talon was telling his crew. 

“My name’s Vette.” She smiled as she introduced herself. “If we’re going to be working together, might as well let you know our names. This big guy is Lord Ratha-”

“Aphadas is fine,” he interjected. He hated being addressed by his title, it made him sound too formal. 

“I’m Mako,” the girl said. “And, um, this is…” 

She trailed off and looked at the bounty hunter, who was distinctly looking away from the rest of them. 

“Nisur,” he grunted. 

“Yeah, uh, it’s nice to meet you both. Hopefully this job won’t be too challenging, but I guess we’re getting paid enough for it, even if it is.” 

“The empire mentioned hazard pay.” The bounty hunter shrugged. 

Aphadas frowned again. “I’m not getting paid…” 

“Yes, you are, you just get stipends from the military.” Vette chuckled and patted his arm. “That’s how we afford gas for the Fury, and food for your bottomless stomach.” 

“Oh my stars, yours too? Nisur can eat his weight in rations,” Mako said. 

The two girls started talking after that. Aphadas tuned them out, standing awkwardly with his hands resting behind his back. He was relaxed, but ready for anything. The stance had been ingrained in him during his training first on Zoist, and then later Korriban. Or at least, so he thought. He had no memory of his time on Zoist, and only barely remembered Korriban. It had only been two years, but the planet and his trials seemed like a distant memory. 

“Kriff, how long is this jump…” The bounty hunter grumbled. 

Aphadas glanced down at him. “I am, er, not sure. I do not know much about ships.” 

“I wasn’t really asking you, big guy.” 

“Ah.” Aphadas looked away. 

The Black Talon slipped seamlessly out of hyperspace, and they were greeted with the sight of a Republic cruiser that filled up the view out the commander center’s window. Aphadas raised his eyebrows. The Brentaal Star was already smoking slightly, it had obviously just jumped out from some space battle, but despite that it was an intimidating sight. Almost immediately he saw fighters launch from its belly and Aphadas gripped his belt to calm the adrenaline that had kicked in. 

He was ready for a fight. 

“Sith, we’re being hailed!” The captain called from the holoterminal. 

Aphadas turned and walked over. A Moff appeared, he had a feeling it was the one who had contacted them earlier, but he did not recognize him. “Moff, we’ve jumped in to intercept the, ah, target.” 

“Very good, now time is of the essence. They will have noticed you by now and will try to stop you from boarding. It is essential-” 

The holocall cut out. Aphadas looked around to the captain, who in turned looked, panicked, to the communications officer. 

“Sorry, sirs, the transmission was intercepted! We have another call coming in from, er… Republic lines. It seemed important.” 

“Put it through,” the bounty hunter growled. He stepped up next to Aphadas, crossed his arms over his chest. Despite being nearly two whole head shorter than him, Aphadas thought the hunter looked just as intimidating. He hummed slightly to himself, his vocalizer buzzing in response. 

The hologram flickered into existence and a woman, dressed in what Aphadas assumed was some sort of Jedi get-up, appeared. He had never seen her before, and his first thought was that she was pretty. Something about her face. He furrowed his brow. 

“Sith, I apologize for interrupting your transmission, but what I have to say is very important,” the woman said. “You are making a grave mistake.” 

“You’re a jedi, aren’t you?” The bounty hunter asked. 

“Yes, my name is Satele Shan. I am a Jedi Master and am here to plead that you turn around and leave the Brentaal Star to escape Imperial space.”

Aphadas shook his head. “Why would we do that?” 

“The jedi master you seek is wounded and in no shape to fight you off. He must be returned safely to Republic space and be given medical attention. He may not be able to pose much threat to you, however the Brentaal Star is a military vessel and equipped with weapons that will tear your ship to shreds.” 

“That’s pretty violent language, for a Jedi,” the bounty hunter said. 

“I speak only the truth.” Satele bowed her head. “Please, reconsider. Is one Jedi truly worth the life of all those on board your ship?” 

Aphadas turned to the captain. “Cut the transmission.” 

The hologram of the jedi master flickered out. Aphadas turned to face those on the command podium. They all looked at him, and he remembered exactly why he hated doing this sort of thing. Words failed him for a moment, until Vette gave him a small smile. His confidence bolstered, he took a deep breath. 

“We will be boarded, Captain, please prepare your security team for the inevitable.”

“Yes, sir.” 

“It is unlikely they’ll, er, attack civilians. Keep them in the passenger bay at all costs.”

“You’ll have to hold the ship while the sith and I board the Brentaal Star and track down the Jedi, can you do that?” the bounty hunter asked. 

The captain looked uncertain, but he nodded. “Yes, I think we can manage that.” 

“Good, send word to the docking bay - we’re going to take a transport over to the cruiser. We need the fastest one you have.” 

Not waiting for more instruction, the captain turned and started barking orders to his crew. There were lots of uncertain faces around the command center, but everyone seemed determined enough. Aphadas pulled his sabers off his belt and gripped them in his fists. 

“I will take point,” he told the bounty hunter. 

“I’ll provide cover.” He turned to look at the girl, her name had escaped Aphadas’ mind. “You stay at the back. The twi’lek, er, Vette? You too.” 

The girl and Vette nodded in unison. “I’ll throw kolto where it’s needed,” The girl said. 

Vette grinned at Aphadas. “I’ve got your back, too, big guy.”

Aphadas nodded at her. He would have said something, but the ship rocked drastically and the power flickered for a moment. When it came back on, it was accompanied by alarms going off on what seemed like every console on the ship. 

“I think that was a pulse canon!” Someone shouted. 

“We’ve definitely been boarded!” Another crewman called. 

The captain looked over at them, Aphadas met his eye. “We’ll deal with the boarding parties on our way to the docking bay,” he said. 

With a nod, the captain turned from them and back to his crew. 

Aphadas waved a hand and motioned for his group to follow him. He took off towards the bridge doors, everyone following closely behind him. His heart hammered in his chest, excitement beginning to build. This kind of fight, where it was do, or die, this was what he lived for. 

***

They encountered their first resistance one floor down. A boarding craft had breached the hull of the Black Talon and republic troopers blocked their way to a secondary lift that would take them to the docking bay. There were ten of them, in white armour and carrying big blaster-rifles that had Aphadas’ blood racing. 

He pulled on the Force around him and leapt, launched himself forward through the air. They had not expected the sudden attack, and by the shout from behind him, neither had the bounty hunter. 

Red plasma flared as he drew one sabre in mid-air. 

Aphadas whooped as he crashed down right in the middle of the Troopers, and with a sweep of his off-hand blade he brought down the two troopers nearest. They crashed to the deck, their armour smoking and guns clattering away. Aphadas did not stop to see if they were dead or not. Blaster fire followed him, a quick look back over his shoulder told him that the bounty hunter had opened fire. A trooper to Aphadas’ left dropped to the ground, then another. 

With four down, that left six. Aphadas made quick work of one. He hadn’t even drawn his main saber yet, prefering his off-hand blade. With his right hand he reached out with the force and picked up one of the remaining troopers, the bounty hunter finished him off with a shot to his forehead. Aphadas dropped him and wheeled around. He sprung into the air, just barely avoiding hitting the ceiling.

Now he drew both blades and, with enough force behind his leap, he slammed back down and knocked the three troopers off balance. He spun, blades extended, and cut through all of them. Two fell, the third only lost an arm. Aphadas finished him off with a quick thrust of a blade. 

The smell of burnt flesh rose in the air and Aphadas hit a button on the side of his mask. It filtered the air, blocking the smell from over-taking his nose. Not so much because it would make him nauseous, he was very used to it by now, but more because the smell had a tendency to make him hungry - something that always, in turn, left him nauseous. 

He turned when the others approached. There had been minimal bloodsplatter, but he was still standing amongst the fallen corpses of ten men. He gingerly stepped away from them, towards the lift. 

“You’re a force of nature!” the girl exclaimed. “That was awesome!” 

Vette smiled at him, gave him a thumbs up. Aphadas blushed a bit. “Ah, thank-you.”

The bounty hunter said nothing, but he did nod. Aphadas decided he’d take that as approval, and nodded back. The girl, who had some talent as a slicer, he was informed, detached the boarding craft from the Black Talon and sent it floating into space before they continued on. 

The lift took them down a floor, to another corridor. It was free of troopers, but they could hear blaster fire up ahead, past a bulkhead door that was shut tight. Aphadas stopped at the control panel, looked at it, then stepped aside to let Mako through. 

“I’ve got this,” she said. 

It only took her a few seconds to get the door to open. It slid apart in two seconds, splitting down the middle, to reveal a huge droid standing there. It’s blaster cannons pointed directly at them. 

“Move!” The bounty hunter shouted. 

They scattered to either side of the corridor just as the droid opened fire. The frame of the bulkhead kept them safe from the lasers, Aphadas had his back pressed tight against the wall. The bounty hunter was across from him and waved to get his attention. 

He pulled a grenade off his belt and motioned to Aphadas, who took a moment to process what he was being told. The grenade was a distraction. The bounty hunter want him to jump in the minute it went off. 

Aphadas nodded and braced himself. The bounty hunter rolled the grenade through the bulkhead door and the minute Aphadas heard the explosion go off he jumped. He turned in the air and crashed into the droid with his shoulder. His teeth jarred together, pain shot up where metal met bone, but the hit did its job - the droid was already off-balance from the blast and went down, taking Aphadas with it. 

Blaster fire followed him. The bounty hunter had his back. 

Aphadas pushed himself up and away, rolling to the deck of the docking bay. Troopers that had been out of sight before converged as the smoke from the grenade cleared. The bounty hunter and Vette had the droid pinned down under continuous blaster fire, so Aphadas turned his attention to these new arrivals. 

He draw both sabres, the sound they made when the plasma blades engaged picked up his heart rate yet again. Aphadas was breathing heavily, excited. The troopers faultered when they saw the red blades, he knew, and he lunged at them. 

With a quick press of a botton, his right sabre disengaged and he grabbed hold of the nearest trooper by the throat. The man struggled, kicked out at him, but a moment later he was being tossed into one of his comrades - Aphadas plunged a blade through both of them before they could hit the ground. 

Four left. 

He rounded on them, ready to attack, but only two were within immediate range. Before he could react, they opened fire. His armour absorbed the lasers, they fizzled out when they hit the red and black cuirass, but one lucky shot grazed his exposed temple. Aphadas flinched away at the last second, the laser only drawing a line of searing, hot pain across his scalp, and rolled out of their range, stopping behind some heavy, metal crates. He snarled.

His head was already littered with scars. One more was barely an inconvenience, but he didn’t like getting hit. Blood trickled down the side of his head, and Aphadas wiped it away with a gloved hand. He saw Mako spot him and rush over, sliding the last few feet to stop behind the crates next to him. 

“Did you get hit? Are you alright?”

“Grazed, I’m fine.” Aphadas showed her the wound. Mako frowned at him. 

“Geez, alright. That looked way worse from over there. I think they’ve almost got the droid down- Oh, yeah, there it goes.” 

There was an explosion and the sound of several tonnes of metal dropping to the ground.

Aphadas peered up, over the crate. He saw the smoking wreck of the battle droid, and watched at the bounty hunter and Vette rounded on the remaining troopers. He itched to jump back up and join them, but instead he kept himself in place - though he drummed his fingers on the hilts of his lightsabres. He watched the bounty hunter closely as he unloaded rounds into the troops. From what he could see, the man was well-adapted to fighting. He knew what he was doing, and knew how to use his lesser height to his advantage. When one trooper got too close, the bounty hunter dropped and got in low - a blaster pressed right to the seam of the trooper’s armour, under his arm, and the man dropped when the bounty hunter pulled the trigger. 

It was suddenly very quiet in the docking bay, with all the fighting over. Aphadas got to his feet and strode out from behind the crates, Mako following after him. 

“Anyone injured?” She called. 

Vette spun and rushed over to Aphadas. “Are you alright?”

“Yes.” He showed her the cut. It had already stopped hurting, the stims that he kept pumping through his veins doing a good job of suppressing the pain from injuries both new and old. 

Vette slapped his arm. “Good fight, then.” 

“I only got two…” 

Aphadas was pretty sure he heard the bounty hunter chuckle, but when he looked over again he was checking something on his blasters and didn’t seem to be listening to them. Mako was hovering, doing a quick med-scan of him, but he seemed to have come out of the fight completely unharmed. 

He took a deep breath, looked around. “Which transport are we taking? The sooner we get over to the Republic ship, the sooner we can get everyone here to safety.” 

Mako raised a brow. “I didn’t know Sith were concerned with people’s safety.” 

Aphadas looked at her. She covered her mouth. Before she could apologize, which Aphadas knew she was going to do, he laughed. One of his good-natured, hearty laughs that Vette always told him were kind of cute. 

“I’m not a very good Sith.” 

“You’re a damn competent fighter, though,” the bounty hunter added. 

Aphadas beamed, though it was totally lost behind his mask. “Thank-you.” 

The bounty hunter shook the thanks off, then stowed his blasters in their holsters at his hip. “Let’s just get this over with.” 

“Hang on a minute,” Vette called. “We’re getting a holocall.”

Aphadas peered at her, and he heard the bounty hunter groan, which made him chuckle. “Go ahead, Vette,” he told her. 

She held out the communicator and the Black Talon’s captain appeared before them. He looked shaken, but intact, so Aphadas didn’t worry too much about the state of the crew. 

“Sith, we have an problem. The engine room has been infiltrated and they’re bringing us offline.” The captain spoke quickly. “We can’t get security down there, one of the bulkheads was sealed shut. I know your mission requires speed, but if we don’t regain control of the engines-” 

“What do we need to do?” Aphadas cut him off. 

“Get down there, neutralize the problem.”

“Alright, Captain.” 

Vette terminated the call and stashed the communicator back on her belt. She turned to Aphadas, quirking one perfectly-penciled brow. “Do we have time for that?” 

Aphadas was going to answer, but the bounty hunter beat him to it. “If we don’t, we won’t have a getaway ship. And if we can’t get away, we might as well just shoot ourselves now.” 

“Cheery,” Mako mumbled sarcastically. 

Aphadas nodded his agreement with the bounty hunter. They would need the Black Talon intact when they returned with the defector, able to jump out of the system the minute they docked. It was a pretty essential part of their plan, something they could not afford to do without. “It shouldn’t take us long,” Aphadas said. “Look how fast we…”

He gestured at the trail of corpses they’d left in their wake. Mako nodded, the bounty hunter shrugged, and Vette said, “Let’s get going, then.” 

The engine room was just a quick lift ride down a floor. They were behind the sealed off bulkhead, luckily, and approached the room with caution. Vette jogged ahead of them, quietly, and peer around the frame of the door to look inside. She came back to them with her report. 

“Two men, no droids, we could probably take them out from the doorway. It looks like they sent most of their resistance to meet us on the way up to the bridge.”

The bounty hunter huffed. The voice filter on his helmet made the breath sound staticy. “I’ll do it.”

Aphadas held out a hand, stopped the bounty hunter from walking forward. “Wait.” 

They all looked at them, Vette with a sly grin on her face. She knew what he was going to do, but said nothing. He would thank her later. He always liked a chance to show off some of his force tricks with new people. 

He walked slowly and carefully towards the door. He was so large, so heavy in the foot that it was hard to stay quiet, but he didn’t need them not to hear him. He just needed one of them to look around when he came in the door. 

He stopped and lightly tapped his boot against the door frame. ONe of the troopers looked over, and he immediately caught his eye - incredibly thankful the man wasn’t wearing a helmet, or else Aphadas would have struggled to get his trick to work. He waved a hand, reaching out through the Force to the man’s mind. 

“What’s going on?” the trooper’s comrade asked. He turned, stepped backwards when he saw Aphadas standing there. “It’s the enemy! Shoot him!” 

The trooper went to raised his blaster-rifle, but his comrade grabbed it and wrenched it upwards before he could fire. The blaster hit the trooper in the face and sent him staggering backwards. A second later, the trooper Aphadas had under his control dropped his comrade to the ground and held him there. 

Aphadas walked into the room with a little bit of a swagger to his step. With the Force, he reached out again and knocked both men out. They crumpled into a heap.

He turned around and saw the others at the door, motioned towards the troopers. “Vette, can you tie them up?” 

Vette walked over, patting his arm as she passed. “Show off,” she teased. 

Aphadas feigned hurt, but then he looked away and said, “Well, I only got two in that last fight…” 

Vette shook her head. 

The bounty hunter walked up while Vette tied the soldiers’ wrists behind their backs with zip-ties. She carried a few around, just in case they needed to take anyone prisoner. He turned his helmet towards Aphadas. “What was that?” 

“Force trick, I can take control of their minds-”

“It was a waste of time. I could have shot them both in half how long it took you to do that.” 

Aphadas slumped a bit. “Oh.” 

“Play nice, boys,” Vette said as she stood up. “We have to work as a team.” 

The republic troopers were subdued, and Mako had taken care of whatever they’d done to the engines to stop them from working. Both girls walked back over to Aphadas and the bounty hunter. 

“He doesn’t know how to play nice,” Mako said. 

“I don’t think Phada does, either, when it comes to showing off…”

Aphadas snorted, and the bounty hunter crossed his arms. Neither of them said anything. The girls laughed at them, which earned a snapped remark from the bounty hunter that Aphadas didn’t pay enough attention to catch. 

Aphadas knew he was right, about the force trick being a waste of time, but he wouldn’t admit it. He’d had fun. 

“We need to get back to the docking bay,” the bounty hunter said. “Before anything else gets in our way.”

“Lead the way,” Aphadas grumbled. He stepped aside, motioned towards the door. As they left, Vette patted his arm again and gave him a little smile, before she followed the bounty hunter out the door. 

Aphadas snorted, but he couldn’t help a little smile in return. 

Things were going to get interesting.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two:  
The Brentaal Star

Vette, the Sith’s companion, piloted. There was a Republic fighter hot on their tail, trying to blast them to pieces. “I don’t know how rough of a landing this will be,” she called as they neared the docking bay of the Brentaal star - their target. “You all might want to hold on tight to something!”

Nisur gripped the bar above his head and braced for impact as the docking bay rushed up to meet them. He grit his teeth as they hit the deck, the belly of the small transport unit scraping along and surely sending up sparks. Vette was a good enough pilot to slow them just in time, however, so at least they didn’t crash into any of the transports already docked there. He managed to stay on his feet, too. 

The sith was not so lucky. He swayed dangerously, then lost his balance and slammed a shoulder - hard - into the wall of the transport. 

Nisur was still annoyed at the stunt he’d pulled earlier, wasting time in the engine room to show off some Force trick that, frankly, wasn’t all that impressive to begin with, but he still couldn’t help but ask, “You alright?” 

The sith looked at him, nodded. “My knee, the left one, it’s prosthetic. Doesn’t always lock up properly.” 

Nisur glanced down at the Sith’s leg. He hadn’t notice before, but the calf was slimmer than his right. The sith didn’t seem to favour it, though, like one usually would when one of your legs were made of metal. He must have adapted his fighting style to account for it, which Nisur had to admit, was pretty impressive. 

He didn’t know what to think about this Sith, yet. So many things that he couldn’t figure out, and didn’t have time to with the pressure on, as it were. He shrugged a shoulder and offered his hand to the Sith to pull him upright, a little tricky when the man was over a foot taller than him. With the sith back on his feet and the transport mostly landed, he hit the release on the door and the gang dropped. 

Nisur crouched and surveilled the docking bay beyond. He couldn’t see any hostiles for the moment, but he knew they were coming. He could hear the emergency announcement being made, calling for reinforcements in docking bay two - their location. 

“Let’s go.” He didn’t wait for a response, to know if they were all ready. They had to be, if they didn’t want to die. 

He jumped down and hit the deck, immediately heading for cover behind some crates. To his back was open space, a thin, blue forcefield the only thing keeping them from being sucked out into the vacuum. Nisur pulled out a blaster and peered over the crates to surveille the room. 

Whatever guards had been stationed there had scattered when the transport crashed into the bay. Two very large troopers in full combat gear, carrying blaster-canons, trained the large guns on them. They seemed hesitant to open fire, something that Nisur could use to his advantage. He dropped the rangefinder of his helmet and the hud came to life, lighting up the inside of his visor. Tactical information that he didn’t need, but payed attention to anyway, streamed past his eyes. 

Nisur turned as the Sith loomed up next to him. “What’s the plan?” 

“I need you to cause a distraction,” Nisur told him. “Get around the other side of the transport and draw their attention away from me.” 

The sith nodded and crawled on his belly back to the gang of the ship, the only way he could keep his massive form in cover. Nisur watched him stop and exchange a few words with the girls, then Vette followed him around the other side of the ship. Mako stayed in cover, gave Nisur a little thumbs up. 

He returned the gesture. 

The Sith shouted, and the plan set into motion.

Blaster-canons tracked on to the Sith’s location around the hull of the transport, taking the attention of the troopers with them. They didn’t open fire, as Nisur had expected, instead reinforcements spilled out from the docking bay doors to provide support for the two heavy troopers and, much to Nisur’s dismay, he saw a Jedi among them. 

A kid, probably not even a full-fledged Jedi by the look of him, but he shouted commands to the troopers and Nisur realized that this group was much more organized than the troops that had infiltrated the Black Talon. 

“Kriff,” he growled. “Mako! Get the sith’s attention! Tell him not to rush in!” 

Mako disappeared around the hull of the transport, but it was too late. Nisur heard the sith’s war-cry and watch as he rushed in to meet the troopers head-on. 

Nisur swore vehemently. His immediate instinct was to stay in cover, keep himself safe until the Sith realized his mistake and either died, or retreated. He wished he could have done that, it was the smart thing to do. Nisur did not seem to be in a very smart mood, however, as he vaulted over the crates and sprinted up the length of the docking bay. 

Straight towards the enemy. 

The sith had taken out one of the heavy troopers with his initial leap, landing right on top of him. Another one went down with a smoking hole through his chest, the handiwork of Vette, who was running to catch up to her sith lord. With a quick glance, Nisur deemed that she had realized the problem, as well. She looked tense. 

“Take care of the gunmen! I’ll get the Sith!” Nisur heard the jedi yell. 

The kid used the force to pull one of his own men out of the path of Aphadas’ blade, and deflected both of the sith’s lightsabers with some quick maneuvers of his own. With a push, he sent the sith skidding back a few feet. 

Nisur ground his teeth. The kid had more skills than he’d anticipated by his apparent age. 

***

Aphadas grunted as his lightsabers were deflected. He didn’t let the Force push knock him off balance, quickly regaining momentum and bringing both sabres up and down in an attempt to catch the jedi in the shoulders. 

He blocked, blue lightsaber catching both of Aphadas’ red blades and sending them back. Aphadas had enough force behind the blows that it jarred his shoulders. He took the chance and tumbled to the ground, rolled, and came back up out of reach of the jedi. 

“You’re fast for such a big guy!” the Jedi informed him. 

Aphadas snarled. He didn’t like Jedi. 

The jedi was tall, but slender, and Aphadas knew he could use his bulk to his advantage to over-power him if he could catch him off-guard. But the jedi seemed unnervingly fast, Aphadas had barely caught the movement of his blocks before their sabers hit each other. Aphadas had a feeling it had something to do with the Jedi’s heritage, he was obviously not human - brown skin with splotches of darker pigment and a crown of small, vestigial horns circled his forehead. His eyes were an eerie, vibrant blue-green. They flashed when the light caught them. 

Aphadas regained his stance after the last block and waited. He’d let the Jedi come to him. 

Or so he thought, but the Jedi’s head snapped around and he was gone in a flash. Aphadas tracked him with his eyes, watched as he got in the way of blaster fire from the bounty hunter - aimed at one of his troopers. He deflected it with his lightsaber before it could go straight through the trooper’s helmet. 

“Stay sharp,” the Jedi called, then wheeled back around to use the Force to leap straight at Aphadas. 

A side step took him out of the way, but the Jedi twisted mid-air and Aphadas just barely deflecting the blow, low on the blade of his lightsaber. He could feel the heat from the blue plasma as it nearly sliced through his neck. 

Aphadas snarled. “Are you aiming for my head?” 

“It’s quick, it’s efficient.” The Jedi grinned at him, jumping away, only to leap back in before both his feet could hit the ground. He aimed low this time, jabbing upwards. “Harder to do when my target’s so tall, though.” 

Aphadas blocked that attack with ease, and returned with one of his own. He pulled back and swung hard with his off-hand, hoping to catch the kid through his middle. While the jedi went to block that, Aphadas used his thumb to hit the dial on his main-hand saber that shortened the blade, brought it in close to his hip, and stabbed straight forward. 

The jedi yelled as the blade pierced his thigh. Aphadas grunted as his left arm was nearly wrenched from its socket by the jedi’s block. 

“Force, that was a dirty trick,” the jedi limped backwards. “Give me a minute.” 

Aphadas didn’t even try to play fair. He lunged forward again, not even bothering to use his lightsabers, and managed to get a hand around the jedi’s long, slender neck. It felt oddly fragile under his huge palm, and he quickly dropped the jedi to the ground - fist clenching in an effort to crush his throat. 

He would have succeeded had a blaster not gone off somewhere to his left, the round piercing him through the shoulder. Aphadas grunted and was forced to drop the Jedi, arm on fire from pain. 

“Kriff.” Aphadas looked around. There were still troopers left, more than he would have expected. He saw Vette, saw that she was bleeding from a few places where blaster rounds had grazed her. He could hear the bounty hunter sending off incendiary rounds, but he was out of his range of vision. Aphadas wrapped his hand over the wound on his shoulder. 

The trooper that had shot Aphadas rushed over and pulled the Jedi up to his feet. “Are you alright, Captain?” 

“I’ll make it,” the Jedi replied. 

Aphadas stared at them, shook his head slowly. Whoever this Jedi was, he was obviously fond of his troops. Aphadas had a sinking feeling that they might lose to him, if they didn’t turn the tides soon. 

***

Nisur saw the Sith get shot, but there was nothing he could do from a distance. He was unloading rounds at the remaining heavy trooper, but they just ricocheted off his armour - completely useless. He’d run out of incendiary rounds taking out two other troopers. 

He could tell that Vette was getting worn down, and Mako was trying to stay as close to cover as she could. Nisur had purposefully put himself between her and any immediate danger, he wouldn’t forgive himself if she got badly wounded in this fight. It was a stupid errand for the Empire, and it was not how she - or himself, for that matter - was going to go down. 

Nisur reached to his belt and yanked off one of the grenades he kept handy. These troopers were good, but the real problem was the jedi - he was a better strategist than the sith, who seemed to rely mostly on his brute strength to get him through a fight. If that jedi took out the sith they were all dead. 

“Aphadas!” Nisur shouted. It was the only warning he gave, before he armed the grenade and lobbed it straight at the jedi. 

He watched them all scatter just before the grenade went off. In the chaos that followed, Nisur was able to get over to the Sith’s side and drag him back to Vette’s position to regroup. Mako joined them shortly. The sith was panting, one hand clamped over his shoulder - blood trickling down from between his fingers. He winced when Mako reached up and pulled his hand away, but didn’t protest the application of kolto spray to help heal it faster. 

“That jedi’s a problem,” Vette announced. 

“Do you think you can pin him down?” Nisur asked the sith. 

“He’s fast, but he lacks discipline in his fighting technique.” The sith’s voice was rough, filtering out through his mask. It had a strange tinny quality to it that Nisur had noticed earlier, made him wonder if the sith had a synthetic voice box. He didn’t ask, though, it wasn’t important. “If you can get the troopers away from him, I should be able to bring him down.” 

Nisur nodded. “Mako, and, er, Vette. You work with me. We don’t let the troopers get close to the sith, understood?” 

“Sure thing, boss.”

“Got it.” 

Smoke dissipated and when it cleared, Nisur saw the jedi and his troopers had regrouped, as well. The jedi looked like he was tiring, a distinct limp from when the sith had got him through the thigh. He grinned at them from across the distance. 

Nisur replied by sending an explosive round directly into their midst. The blast managed to pull the jedi off to the right of his troops. Nisur signalled and they moved in. 

He didn’t see the sith jump in, but he heard the distinct sounds of plasma hitting plasma as the jedi was engaged in combat. With both Mako and Vette to support him, Nisur made quick work of the main bulk of the troopers. When there were only two left, the sith joined them and dropped them in just a few swings of his lightsabers.

Nisur hadn’t heard the Jedi go down. The fighting was over, though, and when he looked around he saw the kid collapsed in a heap. He wasn’t dead, but there was no way he’d be getting up any time soon - the Sith had hacked one of his arms clean off, just above the elbow. The detached arm lay some feet away from the Jedi’s body, and he was clutching at the stump. 

The Sith, much to Nisur’s surprise, went over to him after the fighting was done. 

“I’m not going to kill you.” 

“You should.” The Jedi laughed, bitterly. His voice was shaking. “I’ll never live this one down.” 

“You will be fine.” The sith grabbed the Jedi’s lightsaber from the ground and did something to the hilt. It opened up and the crystal core dropped out, clinking to the ground. The sith stepped on it, turning it to dust right before the Jedi’s eyes - he flinched obviously. “Where’s the defector?” 

A bitter laugh from the kid. “I’m not going to tell you that.” 

“I could choke it out of you.” 

The sith said it with such a deadpan that Nisur couldn’t help but grimace. The guy was big enough to be terrifying when he talked like that. The jedi seemed to feel it too, because he looked away. Wilted slightly, lying there on the deck. 

“You already took my arm, can’t we leave it there?” 

The Jedi didn’t get an answer from the sith. He just crouched down, and the next second he had lifted the Jedi up by his throat. “Where is he?” 

With the sith’s hand firmly clamped around his neck, undoubtedly crushing his windpipe, the Jedi could only struggle weakly in response. He was dropped back to the ground a moment later, crumpling in a heap. The jedi coughed as he tried to recover. “He’s… He’s going to the escape pods. He may have left already.” 

“Where are the escape pods?” 

“C deck, two decks up.” 

Nisur half expected the sith to finish the Jedi off after he got his answer, but Aphadas just straightened up and stowed his lightsabers on his belt. “Let’s go.” 

With one last glance at the maimed Jedi, they left the cargo bay to find a lift to take them up the decks. Aphadas and Vette led the way this time, leaving Nisur to walk in the rear with Mako. He watched the Sith’s back as they proceeded. 

“That was strange, for a Sith,” Mako commented quietly. 

Nisur grunted in reply. She was right, it had been totally unexpected. From his experience, Sith didn’t leave enemies alive - it wasn’t their way. 

“Vette’s really nice, you know, I bet Aphadas is too, when he’s not killing people.” 

“Don’t get attached. After this is done, we’ll probably never see him again.” Nisur paused. “And if we do, we might not be on the same side.” 

***

They had to battle their way up to C Deck. By the looks of it, the Brentaal Star was carrying a whole battalion of troopers - and they left most of them lying on the deck, either dead or dying. Nisur didn’t feel any pity for them, it was all part of the job. Only Mako seemed to be getting more agitated at the growing count of bodies left in their wake - Vette was indifferent, and the Sith seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself. Even with his shoulder wounded, the Sith carved a path through the republic troopers on their way up the deck. It was one of the easiest jobs Nisur had ever been on, simply because he didn’t have to pull most of the weight. 

Now, they just had to hope they’d make it before the escape pods could launch. 

As luck would have it, the escape pods hadn’t deployed. Their target, the defector, watched as the group dispatched the troopers left to guard him. The defector was an unimpressive man by any standards, already covered in bruises, and being support by what looked like another Jedi. 

“What did you do to my padawan?” The Jedi called to them. 

“The kid with the horns? He’s back in the cargo bay - missing an arm.” Vette taunted.

Nisur was shocked, he hadn’t thought she’d had it in her. 

“Bastards… What does the Empire want with this man, anyway?” The Jedi demanded. “Is he worth all this death?” 

“No idea. I don’t get paid to ask questions.” Nisur was sure he sounded smug, but he didn’t care. The Jedi was outnumbered four to one, he didn’t stand a chance. 

They made quick work out of him, and this time the Sith did finish him off with a lightsaber straight through the man’s chest. 

In the distance alarms were still going off, but Nisur had a feeling no one would be coming for them right away. He stowed his blasters and turned to the defector, who had fallen to the ground by one of the escape pods. He grabbed the man and hauled him up, slinging his arm over his shoulders and supporting most of his weight. 

“You’re not here to kill me..?” The man sounded terrified. Nisur did not blame him in the slightest. 

“It’s your lucky day, the Empire wants you alive.” 

The man sobbed. “They’ll torture me… I’d be better off dead…”

“He’s probably right.” The Sith walked over and peered down at the defector, then at Nisur. His brow was furrowed and he looked like he wanted to ask something, but he didn’t. “We could just kill him.”

Nisur huffed. “I won’t get paid if he’s dead.” 

The sith nodded, walked back to Vette and stood by her. She patted his arm and smiled up at him. “Good job, Phada,” she praised him. She sounded like a mother praising her kid. 

“Can we get back? I don’t think there will be reinforcements, but I don’t want to stick around and find out,” Mako asked the group. 

Nisur nodded, shifted the defector’s weight a bit, and started trudging back towards the lifts. He couldn’t wait to get back to the Black Talon. By the looks of the others, they were all just as eager to get the job over with. Hefting the whimpering man along, Nisur led the way down the corridor. 

He paused when they got to the lifts, looked up at the Sith. “Why didn’t you kill the padawan?” 

The Sith glanced down at him, shrugged. “He was only a kid.” 

Nisur frowned. He still didn’t know what to expect from this man.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three:  
The Huntmaster

Dromund Kaas spaceport was busy. They exited the Black Talon in a private hangar, where they were met by Imperial soldiers and the Moff that had assigned them their mission. Aphadas let him shake his hand, let himself be congratulated on a job well done, and watched as the bounty hunter handed over the defector for the credits he was owed.

Vette cleared her throat. Aphadas looked around and down at her. “Hm?”

“You’ve been staring, something on your mind?” 

Aphadas frowned. He was sure there had been, when he’d started watching the bounty hunter on their way back to Dromund Kaas, but now he couldn’t remember it. He’d just continued to for no reason in particular. He hefted one shoulder - the one that hadn’t been stabbed just a few hours before - and shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

“You sure?” 

“Vette…” 

“Alright, then if we’re done here, let’s go - I doubt we want to keep that Sith Lord waiting any longer than we have.” 

“Probably not.” Aphadas sighed. He strode towards the bounty hunter and his companion, stopping just in front of them. The bounty hunter looked up at him, helmet still in place, face concealed. 

“You need something?” 

“You fought well, I had fun.” Aphadas stuck out his hand. “I hope we don’t have to meet in battle.” 

The bounty hunter titled his head down, evidently staring at Aphadas’ hand, before he took it. “Yeah, same to you.” 

“Where are you two headed, anyway? Dromund Kaas isn’t somewhere you come by choice.” Vette had arrived at Aphadas’ elbow and smiled at the other two as she asked the question. 

“We’re going to the Mandalorian enclave,” Mako said. 

“Mako…” The bounty hunter warned her. 

“The great hunt is starting soon, and Nisur’s got the chance to participate in it.” 

The bounty hunter sighed heavily. 

Aphadas raised his brows. “Great hunt?” 

The girl looked excited, and Aphadas couldn’t help but smile behind his mask. She was obviously quite young, and by the way the bounty hunter had protected her during their fights, and the way he had his arms crossed and was (maybe, probably) glaring at her from behind his visor, he could tell that he was quite fond of the girl. Aphadas could see why. 

“Every year they hold a competition, and only the best of the best can enter - or anyone who gets sponsorship, I guess. You compete against the top bounty hunters from across the galaxy and in the end, when only one hunter remains, they’re deemed Champion of the Great Hunt and can get any job they want, and charge a whole lot of credits for it, too!” 

The bounty hunter sighed. “It’s not that impressive, really. Anyone can do it.” 

“Nisur, don’t be a grouch,” Mako chided him.

Aphadas laughed. “That sounds exciting. You get to kill a lot of people, doing that?”

“Sometimes! The rules change each year, and the details of the actual targets are alway kept a secret, but you have to be prepared to kill, that’s for sure.” Mako smiled at him again. 

“The Mandalorian enclave is in Kaas city,” Vette told Mako. “It’s a big place, if you want we could show you the way.” 

“That’s really not-” The bounty hunter began, but Aphadas was already talking over him. 

“I’m a Dromund Kaas native, so I know my way around. We’re going to the Sith citadel, so it’s on the way there.” 

The most exasperated sigh Aphadas had ever heard filtered out from the bounty hunter’s helmet, but the man shrugged and gestured at them. 

Mako laughed. “Lead the way, then.” 

Vette instantly took up the lead with Mako beside her, Aphadas was pretty sure she was excited to have another girl to talk to - even a younger one. She often complained about Aphadas being too much of a man to understand her. Conversations like that usually ended in him being patted on the arm and told that it was okay if he didn’t get it. So, Aphadas fell into step beside the bounty hunter as he trudged along after the girls. 

“My name is Aphadas,” he said after a few minutes of silence. 

The bounty hunter grunted in reply. 

“What’s your name?” 

That got him a look. “You’ve been told it already.” 

Aphadas furrowed his brow. He knew he had, but he couldn’t remember what it was. “My memory, it’s not so great.”

“... It’s Nisur.” 

“I’ll try not to forget it this time!”

Another grunt. 

They piled onto a lift to take them up to the main floor of the spaceport, with so many other life forms on with them he tried his best not to take up too much space, but he was just too big. Nisur was jostled into Aphadas’ side. They stood there awkwardly, much too close to be anything but uncomfortable in the tight space. 

“... ‘All passengers with luggage should make sure it is stowed in the proper location, with identification tags clearly visible,’” Nisur said. 

Aphadas looked down at him, puzzled by the sudden comment, and Nisur looked away. Aphadas couldn’t tell if he was embarrassed, or not. “What?” 

“That’s the announcement you asked me about earlier,” Nisur said. He still wasn’t looking at Aphadas. “I can speak Huttese.” 

It took a moment, but realization dawned on Aphadas’ face. He grinned. “Of course! You know, I was hoping it would be something exciting…”

Nisur shrugged. 

Aphadas heard giggling, and looked around to see both Vette and Mako behind them in the lift. They had obviously been listening in, because Vette winked at Aphadas. It made him blush for some reason he couldn’t quite place, and he looked back around. Just in time to be saved from the cramped lift as the door slid open. 

“I hope it’s not raining,” Vette commented as they headed for the spaceport doors. 

Aphadas laughed and patted her shoulder. “It’s Dromund Kaas, it’s always raining.” 

***

The Mandalorian Enclave was in the centre of Kaas city, connected to the Sith citadel and other important government facilities by broad catwalks. Aphadas got out of the speeder taxi first, fumbling a bit to fit his massive frame through the tiny door. Once he was out, he waited for the others to disembark. There were lots of life forms milling about the taxi platform, most of them dressed in the distinct armour of Mandalorians, though there were many who seemed to be just regular bounty hunters. To Aphadas’ excitement, he saw a Trandoshian talking to one of the vendors who had set up shop around the platform. He was just about to go over and say hello when Vette grabbed his arm. 

“I know exactly what you’re thinking. Don’t wander off, you’ll get us in trouble.” She scolded him. 

Aphadas wilted a bit. He nodded and settled to just watch the Trandoshian from a distance. The lizard man was totally oblivious to the fact that he was being watched. “Say, Vette? I think we got off at the wrong taxi pad…” Aphadas looked around at her. “Aren’t we going to the Sith citadel?” 

When he looked around, Aphadas saw the other two people with them. He couldn’t place who they were, or why they had been sharing at taxi. Disorientated for a moment, he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“What’s his deal?” The deep, gruff voice was familiar. 

Aphadas felt a hand on his upper arm, rubbing it reassuringly. He opened his eyes and saw Vette smiling up at him. “You okay, Phada?” 

“He’s a bounty hunter, I can’t remember the girl’s name… And I got stabbed. Again.” His voice sounded a little flat. He was starting to get tired after the mission they’d just been on, the adrenaline had burned off whatever stims had been in his body that morning - it left a dull ache where metal parts met fleshy parts, and his shoulder throbbed with pain. He’d begun to notice it in the taxi, but it all rushed in at once. 

“Is he okay?” The girl asked with some concern. 

Aphadas waved a hand to dismiss the question, because it didn’t matter if he was alright, but Vette answered for him. 

“His memory isn’t so great and that fight wore him out.” She turned back to Aphadas and patted his arm again. “We just gotta make it to this meeting with Lord Baras, alright? Then you can take a break.” 

Aphadas nodded. He thought he wouldn’t like these people, who were practically strangers, really, knowing about his memory problems, but when he saw the look the girl gave him he couldn’t help but smile a bit. “I stepped on a landmine when I was younger… It did some damage.” He tapped his temple, then shrugged. 

“Oh Force, that’s awful,” the girl said. 

The bounty hunter grunted. Aphadas focused on him for a moment, trying to remember his name. He knew he had already asked for it once, after having been introduced, and he didn’t want to seem too rude. He really did want to remember it. His brow furrowed and he continued to stare. 

“What?” The bounty hunter eventually asked. 

Aphadas blinked slowly. In the silence that followed, he heard his stomach growl. He flushed a bit and looked away. 

“We should go to a cantina,” he said. 

“Are you inviting us out for drinks, or were you talking to the twi’lek?” The bounty hunter asked. 

Aphadas looked back at him, then to Vette. “Uh… Both?” 

“Why don’t we meet at the Nexus Room later today? Our meeting with Baras shouldn’t take too long… I hope.” Vette grimaced. Aphadas knew she wasn’t looking forward to meeting the Sith. 

“We don’t-” 

Aphadas cut the bounty hunter off before he could refuse. “It will be our treat, we can write it off as expenses.” 

Silence for a moment, then the bounty hunter sighed and shrugged. “Can’t say no to free food.” 

Mako and Vette settled the arrangement, exchanging comm frequencies so they could get in touch when their various meetings were over with. Aphadas began digging in his pockets as he waited, pulling out a wrapped candy, which he started fiddling with in his hand. The movement made something click in his mind, and just as Vette was saying goodbye and leading him off towards the Sith citadel, he called out, “Nisur!”

Nisur looked around at him. “Yeah?” 

“Good luck, with the great hunt.” 

Nisur paused, then waved and turned around to follow Mako into the enclave. Aphadas heard Vette laugh, and looked down at her. “I remembered his name,” he said, proudly. 

“That you did.” 

“Are you going to be alright, going in there?” 

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me. Will you be able to handle Baras on your own?” 

Aphadas shrugged. “I suppose we will find out.” 

“I suppose we will.” 

***

Nisur showed his certificate of sponsorship to some official-looking Mando, and was pointed towards a back room of the enclave and told to find Crysta Markon. Other hunters milled about, all of them armed and looking like they meant business. Groups discussed the upcoming hunt excitedly. Mako spotted Crysta first, and they approached her. 

“Are you the guy sponsored by Nemro?” Crysta asked when they stopped in front of her. She was an older lady, had a drawl to her voice, and hair spiked up into a crest. Nisur immediately disliked her, but Mako was grinning so he tried not to come off as too hostile. 

“That’s me,” Nisur said. 

“You’re late, you know, there’s only one slot left and the other candidates have already got a head start,” Crysta chided them. “What held you up?” 

“Business with the Empire.” Nisur crossed his arms. “What do you mean, other candidates?” 

“Well, you’re not in the Great Hunt yet, kiddo. You have to pass the preliminaries first, and to do that you have to beat out the competition. They’re just meeting with the Huntmaster now, you better get your cute butt in there.”

Nisur heard Mako snort, and Nisur narrowed his eyes. He only grunted in response. 

“Hunt Master is just through there, kiddo. Hurry, before the meeting’s over.” 

[insert huntmaster section here]

When they exited the Huntmaster’s office, Nisur heard Mako sigh. He glanced at her, and she gave a shrug. “We’re so close, but now we’ve got competition and a deadline…” 

“So much for having drinks with that Sith,” Nisur joked. He hadn’t been looking forward to sitting around in a cantina, getting drinks with them, but at the same time he had a feeling that it might have been his last chance at a full meal for a long time. 

Mako paused. “You don’t think he’d help us, would he? He said that he was from Dromund Kaas, and having a sith with us might get us places we normally couldn’t go.” 

Nisur frowned behind his helmet. She had a point, but he did not want to rely on the Sith for help. Sith weren’t trustworthy, no matter how friendly they seemed. It was something Mako might have been too young to understand. “Let’s see what our targets are, first. If it seems like something the Sith can help with… Maybe.” 

Crysta came up to them before more could be said. She grinned at them, datapad in one hand and the other on her hip. “How’d it go?” 

“We’re in. The huntmaster said you’d have contracts for us to complete.” 

“That I do, kiddo. You’ve got some shit luck, though, these jobs won’t be easy.” 

Nisur grunted. 

“Your first one’s going to take you into the jungle. Seems like some republic noble got himself captured and sold into slavery, and his family wants him back. Now, he was assigned to a slave camp on Dromund Kaas, but the problem is the camp’s in the middle of a revolt right now. Sounds like the Imperials are having a hard time keeping things under control. Dangerous place to be right now.” 

Nisur grunted again. 

“Do you have any other information?” Mako asked. 

“Just a description of the man you’re looking for. You’ll have to do some legwork to figure this one out. Your best bet is to search the camp, but you might have trouble getting in there - the Imperials are trying to keep the revolt under wraps.” 

Nisur saw Mako grin at him, and knew exactly what she was thinking. He sighed. “We’ll be going, then.” 

“Good luck, kiddo! If you don’t end up dead in the jungle, come back here when you’ve completed your contract and I’ll give you your next job.” 

“Right…” Nisur turned on his heel and marched out. 

When they were outside of the enclave, Nisur stopped and turned to Mako. “Call Vette, we’re going to need that Sith’s help to get into the slave camp.” 

“See, Nisur, this is why we make friends.” Mako pulled out her holocommunicator. “Aren’t you glad you took that job, now?” 

Nisur grunted. He was, but he wouldn’t admit it to her. 

***

“Well, the Sith sure know how to decorate a place…” Vette muttered as she led the way into the Sith citadel. 

Aphadas grunted his agreement. The citadel was a familiar place to him. He knew that he had memories of it somewhere, buried deep in his faulty brain, from his childhood. All he remembered of them now were things he had been told after his accident. No matter how hard he tried, the memories wouldn't come back. 

“My parents worked here,” he said simply. 

Vette glanced back at him. “They were both Sith?” 

“Mm.” Aphadas chuckled. “The force is strong in my family.” 

Vette rolled her eyes. “That must have been a fun household to grow up in.” 

“I couldn't tell you, I don't remember any of it.” 

“Ah right.” Vette trailed off. She looked away, just in time for another Sith to bump right into her. He glared down at her, a snarl curling up his lip. 

“Watch where you're going, slave,” he growled

Aphadas’ shoulders stiffened when he saw Vette flinch away. His initial reaction was to punch the guy in the face, hard. Aphadas was larger than him, and it would be easy to drop him to the ground with a quick right hook, but he remembered what Vette had said about using violence. So, instead, he stepped straight into the Sith’s path and let the man run right into him. The sith snarled at Aphadas, who looked down at him with a serene expression on his face. 

“I’d like you to apologize to my friend,” Aphadas told him. “She is not slave, and does not deserve such rude remarks.”

The man’s face turned red, he looked like he was either going to start yelling, or explode. It took him a minute to take in the entirety of Aphadas’ mass, and the pair of lightsabers he wore on his belt, but when he did he stepped back and deflated a little. The sith turned to Vette. “I apologize,” he said in a very clipped manner.

“Very good, you may leave.” Aphadas stepped aside with a gesture of his hand, and the sith scurried off. When he looked back around, Vette was staring at him. Her cheeks were a bit flushed, and she was frowning. 

“Why did you turn that into a scene?” She demanded. 

Aphadas cocked his head. “He was rude to you.”

“So? Everyone’s rude to me, it’s not a big deal, Phada.” She was embarrassed, Aphadas realized. He had embarrassed her.. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to embarrass you, Vette,” he apologized. “Er, should we get a move on? We’re keeping, uh… They’re waiting for us.” 

Vette stared at him a moment longer, but she eventually nodded and gestured for him to follow her. Which was a good thing, because Aphadas had no idea where they were going. The day had slowly begun to trickle away from his memory. He knew they had fought Republic troops, and could still feel the ache from the saber wound through his shoulder, but the details of the mission were hazy. Shocking to him, however, he could remember the bounty hunter - Nisur, he reminded himself. He smiled behind his mask, looking forward to the prospect of having drinks with Nisur and his friend later. He hoped he could ask him more about Huttese. 

An errant thought ran through his head, and he stopped dead in his tracks for a moment. Long enough that Vette had to double back to retrieve him, because he was just standing in the middle of the hall.

“What’s with you today?” Vette asked when she grabbed his arm and proceeded to drag him along. 

“That bounty hunter-”

“What about him?” 

“He wore a helmet the whole time! I didn’t see his face!”

“So? That’s not unusual, you wear that mask all the time. Some people like hiding their identities.” 

“I know, but he’s going to have to take it off.” A group of acolytes stared at them as they passed. Aphadas was sure he sounded too excited, too loud, but he didn’t care. “I want to know what his face looks like.”

“What- Oh. When we go out for drinks with them? Yeah, I guess he will have to take his helmet off. Maybe he doesn’t drink alcohol, though.”

Aphadas snorted. “He’s a bounty hunter, of course he drinks.”

“Fair point.” Vette chuckled. She stopped walking in front of a door, closed, and frowned. “We’re here, I think. You should knock - he’ll probably make me wait outside, anyway. Will you be alright without me in there?” 

Aphadas shrugged. He stepped forward and knocked on the door, getting an immediate response from whomever was inside. Before he opened it, he patted Vette on top of her head and said, “Wish me luck.”

“Good luck, you big idiot. Just remember to pay attention to what he tells you.”

Aphadas nodded and stepped inside.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four  
Drinks On Me

The Nexus Room cantina was one of the classiest cantinas Nisur had ever been in. There wasn’t blood on the floor, for starters, and most of the patrons were standing, or sitting, at tables and chatting. Some life forms filled the dance floor, girls in skimpy - yet tasteful - uniforms circled the room serving drinks. Most of the patrons looked like they were rich kids who came there to unwind, and there were far too many sith in the place for Nisur’s taste.

“Do you see them?” Mako asked. She was looking around, seemingly unperturbed by the oddly relaxed atmosphere of the place. 

The music was still shit, though. At least that much was familiar. 

“No.” Nisur grunted. He hadn’t even bothered to look for Aphadas, figured that Mako would spot him before he could anyway. 

“Maybe they aren’t here yet, Vette did say they had to stop somewhere first,” Mako muttered. “You know, I think that Aphadas has a home here? Judging by what she was saying. Wouldn’t it be nice to sleep in a house for once.”

Nisur grunted. He gazed lazily over the crowd, looking for the sith. The man was huge, and he had that stupid haircut that would be pretty easy to spot in a joint like this. It didn’t take him long to find him in the crowd, sitting at a booth in the back of the cantina - alone. 

Nisur pointed him out to Mako, and followed her through those milling about on the edges of the dance floors towards the sith’s table. “Hey!” Mako called out in greeting. “Long time, no see!” 

Aphadas looked around, blinking a few times. He looked confused, there was no recognition in his expression, and Nisur was sorely tempted to grab Mako and drag her off. But they did need the sith’s help, and he supposed he should try to be nice. 

The sith wasn’t wearing his mask, Nsiur realized after a moment of staring back at him. His own helmet was still in place, but the sith had taken his mask off to, presumably, be able to enjoy whatever drink he had sitting on the table in front of him. Nisur didn’t know what he had been expecting to be under there, but it wasn’t what he saw. The entire lower half of Aphadas’ face had been replaced with a prosthetic, metal jaw. It seemed to extend down his throat, as well, which accounted for the metallic, synthetic tone to his voice. The prosthetic itself was impressive, but looked painful - skin tugged down to meet metal, the sith’s top lip - still flesh - was covered in scars. In fact, most of the left side of his face was covered in scars from burning and shrapnel - one curved along his eyesocket, puckered up and obviously from some sort of surgical procedure. 

It was no wonder the sith’s memory was shot. Nisur was surprised the man had survived whatever had caused the need for such extensive surgery. 

After a moment of staring, the sith’s face softened up and he sort-of grimaced. It took Nisur a few seconds to realize he was smiling. 

“Hello! Vette is getting an order for food in, I hope you like fried sleen tails.”

Nisur blinked behind his visor. Mako laughed. “I’ve never had them. Can we sit down?” 

Aphadas nodded and moved back along the bench. He was so large, his shoulders so broad, that he took up a fair portion of it all by himself. Nisur slid in first, putting himself between the man and Mako. Not that he thought he’d do anything, but Nisur didn’t trust anyone. Especially men, especially when it came to Mako. 

“How did your meeting go?” Mako asked when she had settled down in the booth. 

Aphadas shrugged. “Alright. I got yelled at, but I am quite used to that already. Baras was impressed with my - rather, our work on the Bentle Star, which…” He trailed off when he noticed Mako giggling. “What?”

“It’s Brentaal Star.”

“Ah. What did I say?” 

“Bentle.”

“Oh, well. Brentaal Star, then.” The sith chuckled, shook his head slowly. He then noticed that he had left his drink in his previous place, and reached across Nisur to get it. His elbow bumped awkwardly into Nisur’s shoulder as he did. “Sorry,” he apologized.

Nisur just grunted. He considered taking the opportunity to doze off, but Aphadas was staring at him. “What?” 

“Are-” 

Vette arrived then, interrupting him. The sith’s face contorted into a little frown, but he perked up when the smell of delicious, fried food followed in her wake. Nisur’s stomach rumbled and he realized he hadn’t eaten since breakfast that morning - which had been a very, very long time ago. As Vette set the plates down on the table and dropped into the booth next to Aphadas, Nisur straightened up and eyed the food she had brought with her. 

Most of it looked edible, good even. His stomach rumbled again. “You sure you don’t mind paying for all our food?” Nisur asked Aphadas. 

“You saved my life at least once today. I think. It is the least I can do,” Aphadas replied and gestured at the plates. 

Mako had that look on her face, like she knew exactly what was coming. He shrugged at her, then reached up and undid the clasps that kept his helmet in place, tugged it off in one swift motion and set it on the floor between his feet. Without his helmet filtering the air, the food smelt even more mouth watering and he picked up some of it, unceremoniously stuffing his face. He was definitely more concerned with filling his hungry stomach than with manners, didn’t stop putting more bits of small, battered and deep-fried bits of whatever in his mouth until he noticed that the sith was staring at him, mouth open a bit. 

Nisur raised an eyebrow. “What?” he said around a mouthful of food. 

“You’re a zabrak,” the sith commented. “I mean, that is not a problem. I just expected-”

“Expected me to be human?” 

Aphadas looked a little sheepish at his comment, and Nisur shook his head. “Sorry to disappoint, buddy. I know you Imperials aren’t too fond of aliens.” 

He said it like it was a dirty word, knowing full well that to most in the Empire - especially on Dromund Kaas - it was. 

“I did not mean it like that, I like aliens. My best friend is an alien.” Aphadas pointed at Vette, who gave him a look that clearly said she’d like to be excluded from this discussion. Aphadas didn’t seem to notice, because he kept talking. “You said you were partaking in a Mandalorian competition, so I assumed you would be Mandalorian.” 

Nisur sighed heavily. “Not all Mandos are human, big guy.” 

“I did not know that.” Aphadas seemed content that he had cleared up that little confusion, because he picked up several of what looked like fried lizard tails - sleen tails, Nisur realized - and started munching on them. It was fascinating to watch him chew, all the works of his jaw exposed. 

It was also disgusting. Nisur had to look away, and caught Vette’s eye as he did. 

She smiled at him. “If you don’t want to feel like throwing up, don’t watch him chew. It just gets worse, the more food he puts in there.” 

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“I’m right here,” Aphadas mumbled in a rather sullen tone. 

“Yes, you are,” Vette teased. She leaned forward and looked to Mako and Nisur. Nisur was still stuffing his own face with food, and hoped that Mako would pick up the conversation for him if it amounted to that. 

“So, how did you two end up working together? If you don’t mind me asking.” 

Nisur stiffened up a bit. He glanced at Mako, who had frowned, but she didn’t seem too distressed by the question. 

“A friend of mine was helping him get his sponsorship for the great hunt, back on Hutta,” Mako said. “Things went bad and Nisur helped me get off the planet… We’ve got a mutual interest in seeing someone dead.” 

Vette nodded. “That does seem to bring people together.” 

“He’s kind of a brute, but I don’t mind travelling with him. I mean, anything’s better than Hutta.” Mako shrugged. “What about you two? There has to be a story there. I’ve never met a nice sith before, no offense Aphadas.” 

Aphadas shrugged, and thankfully did not answer, because his mouth was full of sleen tail. 

Vette chuckled. “I was a slave on Korriban. When he was going through his trials I was assigned to him as a sort of handicap I guess, because of his issues with remembering he was supposed to do things. When he completed his trials, he demanded that he be allowed to keep me as his slave, and the minute we were off Korriban he freed me and told me to go wherever I wanted.” 

Nisur looked at Aphadas, who was munching happily on a sleen tail. “What compelled you to stick around?” 

Vette grinned. “I’d say pity, but it was more… grudging obligation to look after him. That was two years ago, now. He’s doing a lot better with memory things.” 

Nisur saw something pass across the sith’s face, just for a moment, and he wondered what he had been thinking. Whatever it was, had furrowed his brow and tugged down his lip into a frown. It was gone too fast for Nisur to question him about it, however, without admitting that he’d been watching Aphadas’ face. 

“Huh.” Mako smiled, then asked, “So are you two together?”

Aphadas choked on the sleen tail he was eating, quickly lifting an arm to cough into the bend of his elbow. Nisur snorted with laughter. 

Vette threw up her hands, grinning and shaking her head. “No! No, we’re- No. I mean we did, once, but it, uh…” 

“I’m not the best person to date,” Aphadas grumbled. 

“He’s not the best person to date. He’s not bad-”

“Vette, please don’t.”

“-in bed, though.” 

Aphadas groaned and covered his face with his hands, speaking into them. “They don’t want to know that.”

“How do you know? Maybe Mako’s interested-”

“No.” Nisur interjected, firmly. He glared at Mako, just in case she got any ideas, and glared at Vette to stop her from continuing that discussion. “Change the subject.”

“Yes, please do,” Aphadas chimed in. He reappeared from behind his hands, cheeks flushed from embarrassment. He looked younger than he had earlier that day, when they had been slaughtering Republic troops together. The metal jaw and heavy scarring certainly added some years, but Nisur wondered if he was any older than he was. 

They were interrupted for a moment by a waitress who approached their table. It looked like they would finally be getting drinks. The young woman, wearing a top that showed off way too much cleavage and midriff, talked mainly to Aphadas, only glancing briefly at the others as she took the orders. Nisur knew exactly why, and was incredibly brisk with her as he ordered a drink for himself. As she walked away, he noticed Aphadas following her with his eyes. 

“Interested?” he grunted. It was an attempt at small talk, a poor one, but the girls had already lapsed into conversation with each other and he felt some need to socialize. Some. 

Aphadas shook his head. “No, I’m… She was very rude, she didn’t even ask Vette if she wanted anything until I prompted her.” 

Nisur snorted. “You’re concerned about a bartender being racist, in an Imperial cantina?” 

“I do not like it when people are rude to my friends,” Aphadas replied. “I don’t care where we are.” 

Nisur frowned. He picked at the plate of food, which had been substantially decimated in such a short time, and found something that interested him enough to stuff into his mouth. They sat in silence for a moment, until Nisur finished chewing. “You said you were from here. You got family in the city?” 

“Ah, no… Well, I might. I don’t actually remember them,” Aphadas admitted sheepishly. Nisur instantly felt bad for asking, but he kept a stony expression on his face. 

“I could look them up, but it would not do any good. They’d be expecting their son and I would be… Myself.” Aphadas frowned, gestured at himself. He very nearly hit Nisur in the head with his arm again, the man was too damn big for his own good. Not only was he a giant, he was bulky too - and from the looks of him, most of it seemed to be muscle. 

Nisur pushed the thought from his head. “Something wrong with yourself?” 

The sith slouched down in his chair. He shrugged, making a point of not looking at Nisur as he spoke. “I don’t remember anything prior to three years ago. I remember waking up in a hospital and a man telling me who I was. Some of it’s come back, but… Not enough. And things don’t stay like they should.” 

He shrugged again. He finally looked back over at Nisur and gave him one of his weird, grimace-smiles. Nisur noticed that his teeth were made of metal and he vaguely wondered if his tongue was synthetic, as well. 

“Shit’s rough, huh?” Nisur grunted. He had to look away, the damn Sith was kind of attractive when he tried to smile, in an endearing way. He was far too sober for thoughts like that. 

Aphadas laughed. “It is.” 

Nisur half expected the man to ask him about his own past, but their drinks came shortly thereafter and Nisur was sucked into a conversation with Vette and Mako over types of blasters. Aphadas just sat and listened to them, sipping at his second drink of the evening. Every now and then he’d ask Nisur a question about a certain type of gun, or supply his own knowledge of lightsabers - something Nisur had to admit was pretty interesting. Vette corrected his facts a lot, mostly for technical things, but the sith had a fairly intimate knowledge of how the blades work. 

When Nisur asked him about it, two drinks later, Aphadas smiled and shrugged. “I had to rebuild mine recently, they were destroyed during my trials. Not many sith get a chance to build their sabers… Though I hear that it is part of the trials for Jedi. I think that would be much more agreeable than what they put Sith acolytes through.” 

“Hm. Speaking of that, what did that sith lord want with you?” Nisur asked. 

“I have to stop a slave rebellion,” Aphadas said. “There was a giant statue involved, but I believe I am just to kill the rebellion leaders and give the Imperial troops a leg up.” 

Nisur perked up at that. “Interesting… My first contract for the preliminaries is to hunt down a slave involved in that rebellion.”

“We could team up!” Aphadas exclaimed excitedly. He looked like he was going to grab Nisur by the shoulder, but stopped when Nisur leaned away from him. His grin persisted, though. “Or, I could hire you? I don’t know the formalities of working with a bounty hunter.” 

Nisur shook his head, hid his own grin behind his hand under the guise of wiping his mouth. “How about I scratch your back, and you scratch mine.”

Aphadas stared at him. “Scratch your…”

“Force, you’re a little dense, aren’t you?” 

“Yes.” Aphadas laughed at himself, and Nisur sighed.

“I mean if you help me out, I’ll help you. We need someone to get us past the Imperial blockade and into the slave camps. Think you can do that?” 

“I don’t see why not. If I say you’re working with me, I doubt there would be any questions.” 

“Then we have an agreement,” Nisur said. 

“Did you two just make plans without us?” Mako asked. “Care to fill us in?” 

“Aphadas has agreed to help us get past the blockade,” Nisur told her. 

“And Nisur is going to help us take out the rebellion leaders,” Aphadas added. He looked at Vette when he said it. 

Vette nodded. “That sounds like a fair exchange. Four heads will be better than two.” 

She yawned, and nudged Aphadas with her elbow. “We should agree to meet up in the morning, I’m exhausted and it’s too dark to head out into the jungle tonight.” 

“The jungles aren’t very friendly at night.” Aphadas sounded like he was speaking from experience. He turned his head to look at Nisur, brow furrowed. “Do you have a place to stay?” 

Nisur felt Mako kick him under the table. He shot her a glare, knowing exactly what she was after. “There’s lodging at the Mandalorian enclave we can stay in for the night.” 

“Oh. I was going to say if you did not have anywhere to go, my apartment has extra room in it.” 

“You have an apartment here?” Mako asked him. Pointedly. Looking directly at Nisur. He grimaced back at her. 

“Yes! It’s… I think my family purchased it for me. I don’t get to stay there often, I have a droid to look after my houseplants.” He fiddled with his cup, there was only another sip of liquid left in it. “It is too big for two people to live in, so I filled it with plants.”

“There’s beds, and other furniture, too,” Vette added with a laugh. “You two might be more comfortable at the enclave, though, instead of a stranger’s house.” 

Nisur clenched his jaw. She was correct, he would be more comfortable in the bunks at the enclave, but Mako hadn’t slept in a proper bed for months. Cantina’s were not the most private places, and lodgings at Mandalorian even less so. Not too mention it would be convenient for regrouping in the morning, no need to arrange a meeting place: they could leave all at once. Nisur sighed. “It would make tomorrow morning easier, so as long as we aren’t incon-”

“Not at all!” Aphadas interrupted him. “I never have guests, so it is actually quite exciting.” 

Vette rolled her eyes, but she smiled and nodded at Nisur. He shrugged back at her. “Well, I guess that’s settled.” 

“Oh my Stars, real beds…” Mako looked a little starry-eyed at the prospect. “Do you have a connect to the holonet? I’d love to be able to check up on some things, I haven’t been near one in ages. Nisur keeps taking me to the most backwater of places.” 

Aphadas looked a little puzzled, so Vette answered for him. “He does. There’s two bathrooms, too, so you’ll be able to use the fresher. I know that’s what I’m looking forward to the most.” 

Mako sighed dreamily. Nisur chuckled at them both, and at the expression on Aphadas’ face. He seemed genuinely excited about having house guests, which came as a surprise to Nisur. He didn’t think Sith were usually so accommodating, but then again Aphadas had already proven that he wasn’t the usual kind of Sith. He seemed to have the bloodthirst down, but he was far too friendly off the battlefield. 

Kind of a big idiot, actually. It was almost endearing. 

“We should get going, we’ll have to be up at the crack of dawn if we want to make good time to the slave encampments.” 

“I call dibs on the fresher when we get there,” Mako announced as they collectively stood up from the booth. 

“You can use my bathroom, Das’ is a little disorganized,” Vette said. 

“It’s not that bad,” Aphadas grumbled. 

“There’s about twenty plants in there, and you keep buying shampoo bottles.” 

“I keep forgetting that I already have some… And they all smell really good!” 

Vette and Mako laughed, Vette patting Aphadas on the arm when he started to look a little crestfallen at their teasing. She reassured him that he was fine, and then told him to lead the way out of the cantina. Mako and Vette followed after, leaving Nisur to take up the rear. 

He glanced back at their table, briefly wondered if anyone had actually paid for their meal and drinks, but decided that he didn’t care. These people could probably afford to give away some booze for free. 

***

Aphadas woke up at some point in the night. He tossed in bed for a while, trying to get his body to ignore the pain that was slowly slipping back in, but eventually it forced him up. He walked across his room to a desk littered with papers, candy wrappers, empty bottles of pills. He searched around for a bottle that still had medication in it, eventually finding one. He fumbled with the cap and swallowed two of the piles, then grabbed a marker out of the cup filled with various writing utensils and wrote the time down on his forearm. Just in case he forgot. 

It took him a moment to realize there was a light on outside his door, probably in the main room of the apartment. He frowned. Vette didn’t stay up this late, which meant someone - probably him - had forgotten to turn it off, or there was someone else in the apartment. 

He didn’t bother to put a shirt on as he left his room, crossed the hall, and peered into the main room. Through the fronds of a fern near the door - it was getting a bit overgrown, he made a mental note to try and remember to prune them before he left the world again - he saw one of the side lamps turned on, and someone sitting on the couch. He tensed, but immediately relaxed when he realized that it was just Nisur. 

Who Aphadas had invited to stay over at his home. He was supposed to be there. 

He stepped into the room, clearing his throat as he did so he wouldn’t startle Nisur. 

Nisur looked up, frowned. “Sorry, did the light bother you?” 

“No, I was awake.” Aphadas stood there awkwardly, and realized that he should probably just go back to bed. Leave Nisur to whatever he’d been doing. Instead, he asked, “Could you not sleep?” 

Nisur shook his head. “I was cleaning the vents on my blasters,” he gestured at the disassembled guns sitting on the caff-table. He glanced at Aphadas’ face, then down. 

“You’re just a mess of scars, aren’t you?” 

Aphadas looked down at himself. His very shirtless torso, the left side and arm marred by burn marks to the point that his left nipple was completely gone, and the rest of it covered in a myriad of other scars from shrapnel, blaster fire, and stab wounds. His shoulder was bandaged, that would be a new scar soon enough. Embarrassment over-took him for a moment, and he cleared his throat. “Yes, I- Sorry. I thought Vette had just left the light on, I didn’t think there would be anyone up.” 

Nisur shrugged. “It’s fine. I was just commenting.” 

Aphadas nodded. “Well, er, goodnight,” he said. 

Nisur didn’t reply, just waved at him and went back to cleaning his blasters. Aphadas turned on his heel and retreated back to his bedroom. The door slid shut behind him and he stood there, with his back against it, heart pounding in his chest. 

He could remember Nisur’s name, and much to his surprise he could remember most of the evening still. He’d spent a lot of time just listening, watching. He liked Nisur’s company, part of him wanted to go back out there, sit, watch him clean his blasters, but he knew it wouldn’t be well received, or at least he thought it wouldn’t be. Aphadas peeled himself off the door and went back to his bed, collapsing into the soft pillows. He closed his eyes and hoped that his heart would calm down, that he’d stop blushing, and that the crush he may have been developing on the Zabrak bounty hunter was just a small thing. 

He fell back asleep a few minutes later, excited and dreading the next day’s expedition into the jungle.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five  
Crushing Rebellion

By midday that had made it to the Imperial blockade. Troops perched on the edge of a precipice, a bridge the only way to get in and out of the slave encampment. Aphadas spoke to some of the officers, who grumbled and glared back at him, but could do nothing to stop him and the other three from crossing the bridge into the encampment. A Sith Lord outranked most military officers, and especially the ones entrenched trying to crush this rebellion.

It took them the rest of the day to complete their missions. Nisur learnt that the slave he was after had been rescued, by an Imperial noble - who was apparently this Republic man’s lover. With that information collected, they set about dispatching some key members of the rebellion to give the Imperials an upper hand. By nightfall, the encampment was in disarray, under fire from the Imperial troops, and slaves getting picked off from the inside by the sith. They stopped for the night, just as thunder rumbled in the sky and rain started to patter down amongst the leaves.

They had retreated to a patch of jungle on a cliff that over-looked the encampment. It was sheltered by some rocky outcroppings and offered a good view of the chaos that continued on below. Nisur was sitting under a tarp, printed with camouflage, that Vette had produced from a pack she carried with her. There were three of them, and Aphadas had offered to go without, stating that he was warm enough as-is and they wouldn’t cover all of him, anyway. 

Aphadas had his field glasses out, watching the camp below. They had gotten three of the four rebellion leaders he was supposed to be dispatching. The fourth had eluded them, and Nisur could tell it was bothering the sith. He sympathized, he felt the same way when one of his bounties escaped him. 

“We’ll get him in the morning,” Nisur told Aphadas. He glanced at Mako and Vette, who had already fallen asleep huddled up together. Luckily, the rain was hot - it would have been miserable if it was cold out, but as it was, it was only a mild inconvenience. 

Aphadas sighed heavily. His mask was back in place, covering his jaw, and the voice filter added even more of a synthetic quality to his already tinny voice. “He might flee in the night.” 

“You killed enough of the other slaves to plant a firm misdirection,” Nisur said. “I doubt they’re aware you’re going after the leaders, specifically.” 

Nisur patted Aphadas’ arm, and the sith flinched away from him. Nisur peered up at him, puzzled, he hadn’t noticed that the sith had been against casual contact. Aphadas’ cheeks were flushed, and Nisur vaguely wondered if he was going to end up sick from the rain. 

“If you’re really worried about it, we can go down and look for him again. Do one last sweep of the camp. The dark will give us some cover, and it will be easy to sneak around without the girls,” Nisur suggested. 

Aphadas worked his jaw, moving his mask slightly on his face. He glanced down at Nisur, then back out across the camp. He nodded and stood up, having to crouch so he didn’t slam his head on the rock. 

His hair was totally ruined. That morning it had been spiked in a perfect mohawk, but after all the fighting and the rain it was flopped over, hanging down along one side of his head. It wasn’t a bad look for Aphadas, hair framing his face softened his features a bit and reminded Nisur, again, of how young the man was. 

Aphadas ran a hand through his hair, messing it up further. He crouched back down and gently nudged Vette awake. “We’re going down into the camp. We’ll be back.”

Vette blinked at Aphadas, then looked over to Nisur. She shrugged and closed her eyes again. “Be safe, scream if you need anything…” 

Aphadas chuckled. “Alright, kiddo.” 

“I’m older than you…” Vette mumbled without opening her eyes. She shoved Aphadas in the leg, and he stood up again.

“Shall we?” Nisur asked. 

They descended back into the camp. Nisur was surprised at how quietly the sith could move in the jungle, he seemed to be right at home moving through the underbrush on the cliffs. Nisur was quiet enough, but he didn’t have much experience traversing jungle like this. Aphadas’ skill probably had something with him growing up on the world, Nisur thought to himself. He meant to ask Aphadas about it, but he remembered what he had said: he had no memory of his childhood. 

The camp had quieted down in the time it took them to get down to it. The imperial troops across the bridge had stopped their barrage of blaster cannon, and the slaves were all hunkered down for the night, only a few watchmen around. 

Nisur grabbed one of them when he passed by his and Aphadas’ hiding place. It was easy enough, the man was obviously not trained in combat. None of the slaves seemed to be, though they had encountered some who had enough spirit to make up for it. Aphadas used some mind trick on him to get him to tell them the whereabouts of the last leader, and once they got a location out of him, Nisur knocked him out. He set the kid on the ground, and the pair of them slipped through the shadows of the camp towards where the kid had said the leader would be. 

Nisur was tugged back suddenly into some shadows by the wheels of a blown-out piece of equipment. Aphadas had grabbed him from behind, and he turned around to snarl at him, but the sith pressed a finger to his mask, then gestured to their left. 

There were other people moving through the camp, keeping close to the shadows. Nisur shrank back against Aphadas as they passed, panicked for a moment that they had been spotted, but the others slipped right past them and into a near-by tent. 

Nisur looked up at Aphadas, who shrugged at him. They both waited, silent, still, until muffled yelling could be heard from inside the tent.

The men who had slipped inside came out dragging a fourth man with them. They stepped into the light, so the Nisur could see them clearly - he frowned. 

They were dressed oddly, in dark clothing that looked like it had been put together from the rags the other slaves were wearing. There was black painted heavily around all of their eyes, and they looked pale - sickly. The man they had dragged out was just a regular looking slave, a human man with a brand across his face. 

He was pleading with his captors to let him go. The men said nothing, but leered at him.

Then one of them broke his neck, and the others fell upon him. 

Nisur had to look away. He couldn’t watch as they tore him apart. Aphadas’ was still fixed on them, though, his brow furrowed as he watched the carnage unfold. 

Before Nisur could stop him, Aphadas stepped out into the light and, with a leap propelled forward by the force, he landed just behind the group, grabbing the first man by the scruff and pressing the hilt of one lightsaber to his neck. 

The others froze, dripping with blood from the slave’s dismembered body. Nisur swore and stayed in the shadows, hoping that Aphadas knew what he was doing. Nisur doubted it, but he could still hope. 

“Please continue,” Aphadas snarled at the men. “I would be interested to see where you’re going with this.”

The men stared at him with wide, gaunt eyes. “You’re a sith!” One exclaimed, loudly, pointing a bloody finger at Aphadas. 

He pressed the lightsaber a little harder to his captive’s neck. Aphadas snarled at them, the men taking another step back. 

“Have you come to liberate us?” 

“The sith council must have recognized our potential!” 

Aphadas shook his head. “What the kriff are you talking about? You just ripped apart a man, and now you’re talking about liberation?” 

The men looked at each other nervously. One of them said, “The master needs to know,” and then scampered off. 

Nisur stepped out of the shadows then, but he stayed back, behind Aphadas. He glared at the men when they looked at him, though the effect was lost because of his helmet. Instead he just stood with his hands placed on his hips, waiting for something to happen. 

Aphadas watched the man leave. He didn’t stop him, but he didn’t let go of the man he had grabbed, either. One large arm around the guy’s chest, crushing him. Nisur could see his pale face starting to turn a red as he struggled to inflate his lungs - he wondered if Aphadas would be able to break any of his ribs. 

Much to Nisur’s disappointment, he didn’t get his answer. The man who had scampered off returned with another, and Nisur balked at him. This newcomer looked like a caricature of a sith lord, black robes and leather belts all over. He looked ridiculous, except for his eyes - they were bloodshot, veins burst both in the eyeballs and around them, making a spider-web pattern across his face. Nisur recognized it, the signs of dark side corruption - he’d never seen it in person, though. 

“My lord!” the man greeted them. “I am honoured that a sith has finally recognized our cause, but may I request you set my disciple down? He may not last much longer if you squeeze him any tighter.” 

The man’s voice was reedy, too breathy. Nisur twitched visably. 

Aphadas glanced down at the man in his arms. “Your disciple?” 

“Yes, I am teaching these men in the way of the sith.”

One of Aphadas’ eyebrows raised, tugged at the scars around his left eye. “Are you a sith?” 

“No, you see, I was not graced with the power to read the Force,” the man explained, “But I have taught myself in your ways - memorized your codes, learned your politics. All in preparation for when I could finally serve you.” 

Nisur laughed, and everyone glanced around at him. “Do you realize how ridiculous you sound?” 

“I beg your pardon?” The Fake Sith’s voice rose in annoyance. He glared at Nisur, who didn’t even bother to make it clear that he was looking right back. 

“Das, let the man go. He’s obviously crazy.” 

Aphadas let go of the disciple, who dropped to the ground like a sack of meiloorun. The disciple didn’t move from Aphadas’ feet, just lay there groaning. 

“Please, my Lord, tell me that you have come to deliver us,” the Fake Sith stepped forward, arm extended like he intended to touch Aphadas’ chest. 

Aphadas leaned away from the man’s outstretched hand. 

“My disciples have been killing to hone their abilities. We may not be gifted in the Force, but we are ready - and willing - to serve.”

Nisur burst out laughing. There was a fresh, dismembered corpses on the ground, and these five men who claimed to be Sith disciples, or whatever delusion they had gotten in their head. It was ridiculous. He couldn’t help himself. 

The Fake Sith hissed at Nisur. “You dare-”

“Hey, now,” Aphadas interjected. “Do not talk to him like that. He’s right, I have no idea what you’re talking about - you cannot be a Sith without being sensitive to the Force. Killing people and maiming corpses does not make you a Sith.” 

The man faltered. “But you have come to welcome my disciples and I, have you not? Have you not come to ask for our service?” 

“No? I’m here to put a stop to this rebellion.”

“Then… Will you return to the Sith council with what you have witnessed here?” 

Aphadas stepped away from them, ending up right next to Nisur. He shrugged, scratched at the back of his neck. “I’ll be honest with you, no. And you should probably stop… doing this… Before someone from the council does catch wind of you, and decides to kill you before you cause more trouble.” 

The disciples looked at each other nervously, then to their master: who glared back at them, at Aphadas, and at Nisur. “We have been betrayed…” 

Aphadas sighed heavily. “I do not care what you do, either way. Your lives - or deaths - do not matter to me.” He looked down at Nisur, turning away from the madmen. “Let’s go.”

“Good plan,” Nisur said with a chuckle. 

They walked off, and Nisur heard the fake sith yell after them, but he didn’t pay close enough attention to pick out any of his words. He glanced up at Aphadas, and noticed that his brow was furrowed. “You alright, big guy?” 

Aphadas blinked a few times, looked down at Nisur as they walked side by side. The creases between his eyebrows softened. “I was just thinking that the only thing that makes me different from them is that I have a connection to the Force…” 

“You don’t dismember corpses,” Nisur pointed out. 

“True.” Aphadas chuckled. “You called me Das, back there.” 

Nisur grunted. 

“I don’t think anyone has shortened my name like that before…” 

Nisur laughed. “You got a problem with it?” 

“No, it’s fine. I enjoy the way it sounds, actually.” 

“Vette calls you Phada, doesn’t she?” 

Aphadas flinched. “Yes… 

“Not fond of that one, huh?” 

“It’s… fine. I don’t mind, she said it was a good nickname for a Sith.” Aphadas’ shoulders sagged a bit. “I think it sounds a little effeminate…” 

Nisur burst out laughing. He patted Aphadas on the back when he saw the man’s rather hurt expression. “I don’t think that’s a problem with you, big guy,” he told him. 

“I suppose it’s not,” Aphadas replied. He chuckled and ran a hand through his hair, pushing it out of his face. The pair of them lapsed into silence again, slipping back into the shadows of the camp to track down the last of the rebellion leaders. 

***

It was past midnight before they made it back to the outcropping of rock where Mako and Vette were waiting for them. The girls woke up when Aphadas and Nisur slipped out of the jungle onto the ledge. Aphadas was exhausted, but elated. They’d found the last leader and killed him, plus the handful of guards that had been left to keep him safe. 

With Nisur by his side, it had been an easy fight. 

Aphadas plopped down onto the ground next to Vette when they arrived. He had blood splattered across his face, and Vette grimaced at him.

“I take it you two were successful,” she said. 

“Very.” Aphadas took off his mask and grabbed the cantina off Vette’s pack, taking a long drink of water. It had gotten warm, sitting in the metal container through the night, but he was thirsty. Starving, too, but that could wait until they got back to Kaas city. He poured some water out into his hand and used it to clean some of the blood off his face.

“We had an interesting encounter with a slave cult,” Nisur said. 

Aphadas had almost forgotten. He shook his head, laughing sadly as he put the cap back on the cantina and handed it off to Nisur. Aphadas watched him pull his helmet off and take a drink. Nisur made eye contact with him, and Aphadas felt his face flush. Nisur’s eyes were blue. 

“Vette asked you a question,” Nisur said. He nodded in her direction.

Aphadas swiveled his head around. He was met with a smirk from Vette, who repeated her question.

“There was something about a cult?”

“Oh. Yes, they wanted to be Sith.” Aphadas shrugged. 

Vette raised an eyebrow. “That’s it? Nothing more exciting than that?” 

“Well, we watched them dismember a body, but…”

“Gross,” Mako said with a grimace. “What the heck, why would anyone want to do that?” 

“They thought it would make them into Sith,” Nisur said. “Das told them off.”

Aphadas felt his cheeks flush again at the nickname, and he cursed himself. The group went quiet as Vette stared at Nisur, Mako looking between all three of them. 

“What did you call him?” 

Nisur cleared his throat. “Er, Das?” 

“Oh my stars-” 

“Aw, that’s a cute nickname!” Mako interrupted Vette. She patted Aphadas on the arm. “Can I call you that, too?” 

“Uh, yes?” Aphadas blinked down at her. “I do not mind.” 

“Good, your name’s too formal for you, anyway. Das suits you a lot better.” 

“I- Thank-you?” Aphadas was starting to get confused. He looked back to Nisur, who shrugged at him and mouthed, ‘women’ at him. Aphadas grinned. 

Nisur looked away suddenly, which made - much to his embarrassment - Aphadas’ stomach lurch slightly. Nisur was frowning. “Nisur?”

He saw Nisur blink in response to his name, but the bounty hunter didn’t look around. “Yeah?” 

“Ah, never mind. It’s getting close to morning, but I believe I’ll try to sleep…” 

Aphadas settled back against the rock. He felt Vette settle down next to him, and looked over at her. She just smiled at him, and shut her eyes. Both her and Mako looked like they could still use more sleep.

“We can head back to Kaas city in the morning,” Nisur said. He yawned, sat down next to Aphadas - their shoulders almost touching. 

Aphadas looked over at him, they made eyecontact for a moment. Holding it this time, neither of them looking away. Nisur’s face softened and he smiled, before he turned away and shut his eyes. One hand rested on his blaster. Aphadas smiled too, sleepily thinking that he didn’t mind this, as he drifted off..


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six   
Team Building

Lord Baras looked up from the man he was torturing. It was the man that, a few days prior, Aphadas had fetched for him out of a private hangar on Dromund Kaas. He’d been in pretty good shape back then, despite a few bruises from the scuffle, but now he was covered in welts and burn marks - the kind left behind by carefully controlled Force lightning. Aphadas couldn’t say he felt bad for the guy, but he certainly wouldn’t want to be in his place. At least now it looked like he had passed out some time ago, unconscious for whatever Baras had been putting him through.

“You’ve returned. Were you successful in Lord Gratham’s compound?” Baras asked. He did not sound too happy about being interrupted, but he turned away from his prisoner anyway. 

Aphadas nodded. He could feel Vette standing behind him, feel the discomfort rolling off her through the Force. He’d had a feeling they’d walk in on Baras doing something like this, he’d tried to convince her to stay outside, but he had forgotten details of the mission last time and now she insisted on being there to make sure they knew exactly what the mission parameters were. Aphadas unconsciously angled himself so that she was mostly hidden behind his bulk, not wanting Baras’ attention to fall on her. 

“There were no complications?” 

“No, my lord,” Aphadas responded automatically. The formality sounded dull coming from him, but he couldn’t help it. He had respect for Baras, but he hated the way the man had treated him like his own personal errand boy since day one - he kept talking about greatness for both of them, but Aphadas knew that Baras only ever thought about himself.

“I have received word that you have been working along-side a masked bounty hunter,” Baras commented as he turned back to the man on the table. “Tell me about this.” 

Aphadas stiffened. Nisur, he’d gone into Gratham’s compound - his own contracts for the Great Hunt preliminaries taking him there as well. “My lord?” 

“You have contracted outside help to aid in my plans. I believe I am allowed to request some information about this man.” Baras turned back around. Aphadas couldn’t tell what he was thinking, the mask the sith lord always wore completely obscured his face - and his intentions. 

Worried that he might say something to get Nisur in trouble, to force Baras to tell him they had to stop working together - both things Aphadas very much did not want - he looked around to Vette for help. She put a reassuring hand on his back and nodded at him. Aphadas swallowed loudly. “He… worked with us, and has helped me complete the missions. I don’t know what else there is to know.” 

“I can sense your uncertainty, apprentice. What is it you’re not telling me?” Baras demanded.

Aphadas flinched. “Nothing, my lord. He is trustworthy, if that is what you’re concerned about. I don’t- I don’t plan to stop working alongside him.” 

Baras regarded Aphadas for a few moments in silence. “Then I hope you are paying him well, bounty hunters’ loyalties lie only with the highest bidder. Make sure this does not cause trouble for us in the future.” 

Aphadas nodded stiffly. Paying him? Aphadas hadn’t handed over a single credit to Nisur, the entire time they’d been working together. When they’d infiltrated the slave encampment it had been an exchange of favours, Nisur had accompanied him to Gratham’s compound because he’d wanted to… At least, that was what Aphadas thought. Maybe Nisur expected to get paid for all of this later, maybe he was already getting paid for it somehow. He looked back at Vette, who gave him a puzzled look, but said nothing. 

This did nothing to ease the tension that had suddenly appeared in his shoulders.

Aphadas realized that Baras was still standing there, watching him, as he let his thoughts go wild. He could tell that Baras knew he was under duress, there was no way he couldn’t - everything could be read in the Force. Aphadas straightened his back, standing so that he towered over Baras - nearly a foot taller than the man. 

“What would you have me do next, my lord?” Aphadas asked. 

Baras turned back to the prisoner. He pulled back one of the man’s eyelids, leaning down to peer into the eye. If Aphadas hadn’t been able to see his chest rising and falling, he would have been certain the man was dead by how limp his body was. Baras straightened back up. “No matter what I try, the spy refuses to give me the information I need. He has withstood all my interrogation techniques.” 

“My lord?” 

“I have heard rumour of a device that can extract any information you could want - straight from a life form’s mind. This device is rumoured to be right here, on Dromund Kaas.” 

Aphadas frowned. “Do you wish for me to… look for this device?” 

“I believe it is hidden within the Dark Temple, a Sith temple built here on Dromund Kaas many millennia ago. Excavation teams have been sent in, in the past, but there is something about the temple that seems to cause a person to go insane…”

“Ah.” Aphadas rubbed at the bridge of his nose, right where the mask sat. 

“If my sources are correct, the device will be located in the bowels of the temple, hidden in a special room. You will have to battle your way through it in order to retrieve it… But I believe you are up to the task.” 

Aphadas was pretty sure he wasn’t, but it was not his place to complain. He nodded. “How much time do I have?”

Baras looked back at the man. “Two days, perhaps. The sooner you can retrieve the device, the better. I do not know how much longer this spy will be able to withstand my torture.” 

“Couldn’t you just stop torturing him until we get back?” Vette muttered behind Aphadas’ back. 

Aphadas snorted with laughter, which earned him a look from Baras. Thankfully, it seemed that the sith lord had not heard Vette.

Aphadas bowed low to Baras. “I will retrieve this device for you, my lord. I will leave immediately, if there is nothing else?” 

“No,” Baras waved a hand to dismiss Aphadas. “Try to return in one piece, it would be bothersome to have to train a new apprentice to replace you.” 

Not wanting to stay there a moment longer, Aphadas turned on his heel. He grabbed Vette by the arm as he headed for the door, hoping to get out of the office before Baras could think of anything else he needed Aphadas to do. He didn’t make it in time.

“Apprentice!” Baras called. Aphadas stopped, turned, looked at the sith lord. 

“The temptation to bring others with you will be strong, but they will be weak against the whispers in the Temple if they are not sensitive to the Force. This may be a mission you will have to do alone.” 

Aphadas’ stomach clenched. “Yes, my lord.”

“If you bring that slave girl with you, it will surely be her doom-”

“Vette is not a slave, my lord. But I appreciate the warning.”

Baras stiffened. He turned away from Aphadas. “Leave, then.” 

Aphadas left, Vette trailing after him. The moment the doors to Baras’ office slide shut behind them, Vette grabbed Aphadas’ arm and yanked him down a side corridor. She pulled him down so they were at eye level, Aphadas blinking as she glared at him. He wondered if he’d done something wrong, but couldn’t remember doing anything that would have 

“Don’t you dare even think about going into that temple alone!” Vette hissed at him. 

“But-”

“No ‘but’s, Aphadas.” She rarely used his full name, and the sound made him flinch. “If you go in there alone, you’re never coming out.” 

Aphadas sighed. He knew that she was right, but Baras’ words echoed in his mind. He didn’t want to be the one to lead Vette to her death, he knew that she would follow him anywhere, but he wouldn’t watch her die because of him. “I know, Vette. I won’t do anything rash.”

“Really?” Vette asked. “Because you kind of look like you might do something rash.” 

Aphadas shook his head, “I won’t.”

He didn’t say anything more on the subject. He wanted to be able to promise her that he wouldn’t do anything stupid, but he couldn’t. If it seemed like she was in danger, he’d give up his life to keep her alive - he knew he would. 

“Das…” Vette murmured. “Are you alright?” 

She put her hand on Aphadas’ cheek, on the mask that obscured the bottom half of his face. He cleared his throat, pushed her away. He couldn’t look her in the eye. “I’m going back to my apartment. We’ll leave for the temple in an hour, get whatever we need.” 

Vette nodded. “Alright…”

He left her standing there in the hall, intending to leave for the apartment, but he found himself wandering through the Sith citadel, trying to get his thoughts under control. Baras had knocked him off balance, it wasn’t the first time a sith had done it to him. He could still remember, with shocking clarity, the words that sith lord had told him when he’d first awoken, back on Ziost. 

Your only purpose now is to die. 

Aphadas stopped along a quiet corridor and leaned back against the wall. He pulled off his mask and ran his hands down his face, worked his fingers along the seams where metal met skin. Massaged out the tension that had built up there as he clenched his jaw. 

If he was going to die, he wasn’t going to let anyone go down with him. 

He sighed heavily and put his mask back on, clipping it into place. He ran a hand through his hair, he hadn’t bothered to style it that morning. Blond, thick, it got in his eyes when he wore it like this, but sometimes he didn’t have enough time - was too tired - when he woke up to do anything about it. 

Aphadas made his way back to the apartment slowly. When he arrived, it was empty. Only his housekeeping droid was there to greet him, but it scurried away quickly - it was programmed not to linger. He almost wanted to call it back, to talk to it, but he just shrugged. He made his way towards the bathroom, stripping off the upper portions of his armour as he went. He dumped them in a pile by the bathroom door as he stepped in, looking at himself in the mirror. 

He grimaced at the scars, at the metal. 

There were bottles everywhere, and Aphadas began sorting through them, looking for something in particular. Something he had bought a long time ago, but never gotten the chance to use. He didn’t know what had reminded of him it, or what compelled him to use it now, but when he found the bottle he was looking for he grinned. 

***

“Nisur!” 

Nisur’s initial reaction was that someone out for his blood had finally tracked him down. He put his hand on his blaster and turned around, very nearly running straight into the breathless twi’lek girl who had shouted at him. “Vette? What are you doing here?” 

They were at the Mandalorian enclave, having just gotten their last contract for the preliminaries from Markon. He hadn’t expected to see Vette and Aphadas again for a while, though after the details of the contract involved dealing with a whole lot of Imperial bullshit, he had considered having Mako call them up to see if they’d be willing to work along-side them again. 

At least Aphadas had a habit of making the jobs enjoyable. 

Vette caught her breath and looked at Nisur. She looked shaken, and Aphadas wasn’t with her. Nisur’s heart sank. 

“Where’s Das?” 

Vette shook her head. “He’s at his apartment… I hope. Listen, I know we’ve been asking for a lot of favours from you, but I think we really need your help on this mission. I know Aphadas won’t want your help, but he’s going to get himself killed.” 

“We can help, can’t we Nisur?” Mako asked. 

Nisur nodded. “What’s the mission?” 

As Vette filled them in on what this Lord Baras had sent them to do, Nisur felt anger boil up in his chest. He understood why Aphadas wouldn’t want to bring Vette - or Nisur, or Mako - with him. Had Nisur been in his place, he would have gone in alone. As it stood, no amount of credits could get him to go into that place. It sounded like a nightmare, he’d heard rumours of it while working previous jobs. This dark temple. 

“I know that if you’re with us, he won’t feel like he has to expend all his energy protecting me,” Vette said. “It’s a lot to ask, I’m sorry - I can offer credits if it-”

Nisur held up a hand. “Vette, we’re- There’s no need for that. I’ll do it.”

He turned to Mako, who immediately set her hands on her hips and glared at him. “Mako, you should-”

“If you are going to suggest that I stay behind, you are going to stop right there. I’m coming with you, Nisur, Vette’s my friend too. I want to help.” 

Nisur shook his head, but he chuckled. “Alright, alright,” he said. “Vette, we need to get in touch with a contact - then we can join you at the apartment.” 

Vette looked relieved. She relaxed, sighed. “Thank-you. I don’t want to see that kid kill himself.”

Nisur nodded. In a show of kindness that shocked even himself, he patted her on the shoulder. She seemed a little weak in the knees, swaying at the contact. “Mako, why don’t you go on ahead with Vette? I can handle this by myself.” 

Mako peered at him. “You sure?”

Nisur nodded. “I won’t be long.” 

He gave them both a little wave, then headed off towards the imperial intelligence headquarters. It was yet another spire-like building, attached to the Mandalorian enclave and sith citadel by a series of walkways. It was far more subdued in decoration than the other spires, though inside it was a warren of passageways, filled with intelligence officers, computers, and a steady stream of droids passing in-office messages. When Nisur entered, he was immediately greeted by a protocol droid who directed him to the office of Captain Medle, the man he was supposed to meet. 

“Do you know of the Dark Temple, here on Dromund Kaas?” Medle asked him. 

Nisur clenched his jaw and gave the man a curt nod. Medle was seated at his desk, with Nisur standing across from him. He’d been offered a chair, but refused. He didn’t have time to sit and chat. 

“Ah, I see. My commanding officer, Commander Gargun, led an expedition there some days ago, but has failed to return.” Medle sighed, as if the whole ordeal was exhausting to him. “I’m certain he’s died in there, but with no proof of his death I’m unable to be promoted to his post.”

“So, you’re sending me in there to get proof?” 

Medle nodded. “Yes, his ID chip would suffice. I can’t tell you where he was when he died, it will be up to you to search the temple for his remains.” 

“Anything else you want to tell me?” 

“Just... be cautious. We have heard strange reports, and the sith do not take kindly to people interfering with their temples.” 

Nisur grunted, and left the office without a word. As he was exiting, he nearly walked right into an imperial agent. He had to look up to see the togruta woman’s face, as she glowered down at him. She probably could have given Aphadas a run for his money in the height department, thanks to her montrals. He frowned at her, his helmet hiding the expression. It was odd to see togruta in the Empire, unless they had a slave collar around their neck. 

“A bounty hunter? What could Medle want with a bounty hunter?” She said. Her voice was deep, smooth, but she did nothing to hide the threat in her words. 

“Offer me credits, and I might tell you,” Nisur snarled back at her. 

The togruta blinked, then she laughed and shook her head. “You bounty hunters, all of you are feisty. Be careful who you sass, little man. It may get you killed some day.” 

She put her hand on Nisur’s shoulder and shoved him aside to get into Medle’s office. Nisur was a little stunned. He glanced back just as the door to the office slid shut. By the look on Medle’s face, he wasn’t pleased to see the togruta - and Nisur couldn’t blame him. The lady could probably intimidate a rancor if she tried. 

He left the building and headed for the nearest speeder pad. He could walk to the apartment, but he’d already taken longer than he would have liked. He knew that, logically, there was nothing to worry about - but Vette had been so distressed, it had him worrying about Aphadas. They’d been working together constantly for the past three days, the night before had been the first night they hadn’t all spent huddled in the jungle together, or crashing at the sith’s apartment. He could admit to himself that he had been enjoying their company, he’d been enjoying Aphadas’ company. Enjoying having him to rush alongside into battle with. 

Nisur leaned forward in his seat, tapped the cab driver on the shoulder. “Hey, can you hurry it up?” 

The droid made a disgruntled noise, but he accelerated as the cab sped through Kaas city towards the residential towers. 

***

Vette trudged along. She was still nervous, she’d seen Aphadas do stupid things before - he’d told her once, in a moment of weakness, that he didn’t have anything to live for anymore. She practically growled as she smashed her hands against her eyes, rubbing at them as she walked. 

“Hey, you alright?” Mako asked. 

Vette sighed. “Yeah. He’s infuriating, you know. You two have managed to catch him at a pretty good time, but sometimes he just… I want to strangle him.” 

Mako laughed. “Nisur gets like that, too. I mean, he’s probably a little better than Das, but he gets so surly and refuses to use words to communicate.” 

“Aphadas just doesn’t think, period. And I know he can, because he’s smart - I met him once before the accident, he doesn’t remember it and I haven’t told him. But he was so smart, it was almost frightening, and that’s still there… He just…” She gave an exasperated sigh. “He absolutely does not try, and it’s very frustrating.”

Mako nodded. “I’m sure he’s thankful for all your help. Men like that just don’t know how to say thank-you, though.” 

Vette laughed now. She shook her head a bit. “You know, I think he might be trying harder with you and Nisur around.” 

“Nisur’s been trying harder to be nice,” Mako said. “I can confirm it.” 

“You don’t think those two…?” Vette trailed off. 

They looked at each other, and started laughing. The laughter died down to giggles as they approached a speeder pad. Vette waved down one of the taxi drivers. “I don’t feel like walking,” she said. 

“Nisur hates these things, he thinks they’re a scam.” Mako giggled, and then put on her best impersonation of Nisur’s deep, gruff voice, “Why pay credits when you have two perfectly good legs.” 

Vette laughed. “Well, I have good news - I can just subsidize this to the Empire as ‘work related transportation.’” 

Mako grinned at her as they piled into the taxi, Vette giving the address of Aphadas’ apartment complex. She felt much more relaxed now, though the worry that Aphadas had done something stupid was still there, a pit in the bottom of her stomach. She was worried that when they arrived at the complex they’d find his apartment empty, Aphadas left ahead of them for the Dark Temple. 

They chatted idly as the taxi sped along, Vette knew that Mako could tell Vette was still preoccupied, so they mostly stuck to light topics. Vette was just thankful for the company, and when they got out of the taxi and rode the turbolift up to the penthouse level of the tower - right at the very top, practically out of the clouds that perpetually hovered over the city. Vette liked Aphadas’ apartment, there were some rare nights where she could see the stars from the balcony, and her room had a lovely view of the jungles stretching away beyond the city limits. 

The lift stopped and Vette punched in the door code, letting them into the apartment. It was quiet, nothing indicating that there was anyone inside. Vette’s stomach lurched a bit. 

“Aphadas?” She called out. 

There was no answer for a moment, then she heard a shuffle and Aphadas emerged into the hall from the kitchen holding a plate, a steamed bun hanging from his mouth. He waved at them with his free hand, removed the bun from his mouth. “Vette! Mako! I bought food, there wasn’t anything in the cupboards.” 

Vette stared at him. She saw Mako cover her mouth to stifle a giggle, and she was tempted to do the same, but she managed to keep as straight face. “Das, what did you do to your hair?” 

Aphadas glanced up at his hair, spiked back up into a mohawk. It wasn’t blond anymore, he had somehow dyed it bright red. Aphadas grinned. “Do you like it?”

“I don’t hate it,” Vette said. She didn’t know what to think, but it looked alright, at least. She sighed and started to laugh, relieved that this is what he’d done - instead of something much more stupid. 

“I’ve always wanted to- Why are you laughing? Does it look stupid?” Aphadas sounded so concerned that it only made Vette laugh harder.

Mako stepped in for her. “It looks great, Das! Very colourful.” 

Aphadas smiled, glanced at Vette, then motioned at them both. “Mako, I wasn’t expecting to see you.” 

“Vette thought- Nisur and I ran into her on the way here. We offered to help out with your mission.” 

Vette saw Aphadas’ smile disappear. Something about what Mako had said had bothered him, but she didn’t know what it was. Probably the fact that by going with them, Aphadas would just be leading more people into certain doom. “I thought it would be a good idea, there’s always strength in numbers,” Vette said, hurriedly. 

“Oh.” Aphadas frowned. “Alright.” 

Vette breathed a sigh of relief. She walked over to him, put a hand on his arm and smiled up at him. She had to reach up to pat his shoulder. “Your hair looks nice, Das. Let’s go eat.” 

Aphadas smiled, and nodded. 

A while later, there was a buzz at the door that announced Nisur’s arrival. They were all sitting around the kitchen table, eating the various take-out food Aphadas had picked up. Vette got up to answer the door, finding Nisur standing there with his helmet tucked under his arm.

“Did he do anything stupid?” Nisur asked as he stepped inside.

Vette laughed. “You’ll see.” 

Nisur raised a brow, but said nothing as he headed towards the kitchen. Vette followed behind him, and they both stopped in the door for a moment. Nisur was staring at Aphadas, and Vette covered her mouth to hide her laughter. 

“What the kriff did you do to your hair?”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think some weird shit happens in this chapter. Take that as your warning.

Chapter Seven  
The Unquiet Chamber

“Firfiek!” Nisur swore loudly. Debris from the temple ceiling crashed down, very nearly crushing him. He only just managed to dive out of the way, hitting the ground hard.

“Sorry!” Aphadas yelled from the other side of the debris. He’d done some force trick that had shook the ground around them, knocking back the possessed acolytes that had swarmed their small group. The downside to it was that it had knocked loose boulders from the ceiling of the tunnel. The Sith’s attacks were suffering, they had been fighting through wave after wave of half-dead acolytes, imperial troops, and slaves that had been left to die in the temple - taken over by something that lurked in that place, driving them to fight anyone they saw as an intruder. 

Nisur was exhausted, and he hadn’t been taking the brunt of their attacks. Aphadas was at the head of the group, making sure none of the possessed got close enough to the others to do any real damage. He’d been doing a good job, until they got out of the main chamber and into a side-chamber, hunting for the commander’s ID chip. 

Mako had rigged up a device to read the signals on the trooper’s comms, and so far it had been working. The only problem was, there were so many troopers in this place it was impossible to narrow it down to tracking the signal of just one of them. 

Nisur slammed a fist into the ground, growling. He was tired, this was going nowhere. There was no way they could keep up this pace for another hour, two hours, however long it took them. He pushed himself to his feet and looked around, spotting a room up ahead. “Mako, Vette! Fall back to that side chamber over there. Aphadas, stop fighting and get over here!” 

They all obeyed his barked commands, except for Aphadas who hesitated. He only glanced at Nisur, before he pushed forward into the mob. Nisur snarled and went to get him out, but a moment later Aphadas had sheathed both his lightsabers and thrust out with his hands. The mob went flying, and he turned and sprinted to Nisur’s side. 

“Let’s go,” he said, then continued on for the side chamber. Nisur jogged after him. 

Mako sealed the door shut behind them. She’d dropped some glow sticks in a pile by the door to light the room, which didn’t have any other source of light in it. It lent an eerie, green glow to the place that didn’t help to calm down Nisur’s frazzled nerves. 

Vette was doing a sweep of the room, her blasters drawn, but there was nothing in the room except for, at its very center, a sarcophagus. Vette stopped near it, a grimace on her face. 

“Couldn’t you have picked a room that didn’t have a creepy coffin in it?” Vette asked. 

Nisur huffed. “You’re welcome to go back out there, if you want. Find us another room to take shelter in.” 

Vette sighed, put her blasters away. She walked over to Aphadas, who was standing still and staring at the sealed door. She put a hand on his arm, and he jumped. He looked down, frantically, at her. 

“Das… You okay?” 

Nisur was wondering the same thing. Aphadas had been on edge since the moment they’d stepped foot in the temple, jumping at shadows. He’d briefly forgotten Vette’s name earlier, frustrated when he couldn’t remember it. Nisur hadn’t seen him this shaken before, it was unnerving. Almost more so than the possessed life forms they’d been fighting through to get here. 

“I’m… fine.” Aphadas walked away from her. He sat down with his back against the wall, knees tucked up to his chest. He was so large it didn’t do much to diminish his bulk, but he looked deflated - defeated. His red hair, which he’d been so proud of that morning, had already flopped over. 

Nisur watched him pull off his mask, fingers working at the seams of his jaw and skin. Aphadas was wincing as he did, in obvious pain. Nisur turned to Vette, tapping her shoulder. “Do you have his pain stims?” 

Vette looked over at Aphadas, frowning. “Kriff… He must have worked them off in the fight.” She rummaged through her bag, pulling out a stim injector filled with bright red liquid from her med pack. She handed it to Nisur. “You give it to him.” 

Nisur hesitated, but he nodded, and walked over to Aphadas. He crouched down in front of him and held out the stim to him. “Here.”

“I don’t need it,” Aphadas snapped at him. He dropped his hands from his face and looked away from Nisur. 

“Don’t be an ass,” Nisur snapped right back. “You being in pain isn’t going to help anyone.” 

In a moment of impulse, he grabbed Aphadas under his knee and yanked his right leg forward, towards him, then jabbed the stim through the leather pants, into his thigh. 

Aphadas yelped at the sudden jab, head snapping around to glare at Nisur, who just glared right back. He knew Aphadas couldn’t see his face because of his helmet, but he was sure his posture got the message across. 

“Don’t be a hero,” Nisur growled at him. 

Aphadas kept his glare for only a moment, before he slumped. His leg went limp in Nisur’s hand, still cupped under his knee. Nisur tossed the spent stim aside, and rubbed at Das’ thigh to work the medication into his muscles. “If you need something, you ask for it. That’s how we’re going to survive this place, got it?” 

Aphadas nodded. “Yes.” 

Nisur let go of his leg, suddenly realizing that he was still holding on to it. Aphadas’ thighs were huge, probably at least as big as Nisur’s head. An errant thought back to Aphadas stumbling into the living room of his apartment without a shirt, his torso a mess of scars on top of toned muscle, ran through Nisur’s head. He stood up immediately and turned away. Now was not the time. 

He yanked off his helmet, tucking it under his arm, and caught Mako staring at him as he did. “What?” he demanded. 

“Nothing,” Mako replied. “Are we staying here for the night, or? It’s just after sunset up above and I wouldn’t mind some sleep.” 

Nisur nodded. “Yeah… We should keep watches, just in case.” 

“I can take first watch,” Aphadas offered. Nisur wanted to tell him no, because he was obviously the most tired out of all of them, but if he went first it meant that he could probably sleep through the rest of the night. 

“I’ll go second, then,” Nisur said. “Let’s have something to eat, first, then settle in. It’s probably going to be a long night.” 

Everyone nodded, and Vette went about unloading the rations she’d brought with her from her pack, passing around food. Aphadas didn’t get up to get any, so Nisur brought him some and ordered him to eat, just in case he was thinking about skipping the meal. They pulled out bed rolls and set them up on the hard, stone floor of the tomb. There was no need for blankets inside the room, it was hot and humid. Nisur was tempted to take off his heavy armour, but he didn’t want to be caught unaware. 

Nisur pulled his communicator off his belt and set the timer on it, before he handed it to Aphadas. “Two hours, if this doesn’t wake me up when it goes off, get me up, alright?” 

Aphadas nodded, but he didn’t say anything when he took the communicator from Nisur. 

The atmosphere was tense as they settled in for the night. The last thing Nisur saw was Aphadas standing up to take up position by the door, before he drifted off with a hand on his blaster.

***

Voices whispered in Aphadas’ mind. He’d been hearing them since they’d entered the temple. No one else had said anything, they were whispers in the Force that only Aphadas was sensitive enough to hear. The fighting had kept them at bay, quiet words whispered at the back of his skull, but now that they had settled down in the silence of the tomb, there was nothing to keep them from shouting at him in the dark.

Aphadas clutched at the sides of his head, curling in on himself to try and keep his thoughts together, but they were beginning to slip away from him. He couldn’t remember why he’d come to this place, he wished he never had. With his eyes shut tight, he was alone in the darkness with those voices, and they were going to drive him insane. 

Join us…

You are strong in the Force, you could be so much more… 

Join us, make us strong again…

One, in particular, screamed at him from the dark. You dare desecrate my tomb! They are weak, weak… They must be killed! 

Kill them, prove your strength!

Join me...

Aphadas shook. He muttered to himself, trying to find a train of thought that would lead him away from the voices, but his mind was becoming more and more muddled. The only way to silence them, was to to join them. To do what they wanted. 

His eyes snapped open and he reached for his lightsabers, pulling the hilts from his belt with shaking hands. He almost unsheathed the blades, almost prepared to turn them against his… Against the others, his friends. 

Friends.

He tossed the hilts aside. They clattered to the ground, rolling off into the shadows. 

“Aphadas?” A voice whispered. It was deep, coming out of the darkness. 

“Go away, I won’t do it,” Aphadas muttered. He clutched at his head again, closing his eyes. “I won’t kill them.”

“Kill who? Das, what’s wrong?” The voice was closer. Aphadas felt hands over his own, gloved fingers gripping and pulling his hands away. Aphadas opened his eyes. 

Two glowing, blue eyes stared back at him out of the dark. Aphadas shoved whatever it was away, standing up in the process. His fist connected with something solid, whatever it was was not a ghost. He snarled, feral and unhinged. He could hear it, but he couldn’t stop himself. 

“Di’kuit.” Whatever, whoever it was stood up. “What the frell, Das.” 

Aphadas shook himself and the room came back into focus. Nisur standing in front of him, rubbing at his jaw where Aphadas’ fist had left behind a sizable welt. “Nisur… Nisur! Oh, Force, I’m sorry-” 

Nisur waved him off as Aphadas tried to stumble forward, took a step back and Aphadas’ heart sank. He’d messed everything up, he knew it. 

“Don’t worry about it, are you alright?” Nisur looked up at him. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” 

Aphadas sank back down to the ground, covering his face with his hands once more. The voices laughed at him. “I shouldn’t have come here,” he muttered. 

“Das, I’m going to touch you again,” Nisur warned. Aphadas felt warm hands cover his again, pull them away so Nisur could look at him - he’d taken off his gloves. “Tell me what’s happening.” 

“I-I can hear voices, they’re in the Force… I can’t make them go away.” Aphadas’ voice sounded strained to his own ears, the vocalizer in his throat crackling. “They want me to kill you…”

Nisur smoothed his thumb over Aphadas’ cheek, pressing the skin down. Aphadas leaned into his palm, his eyes closed, and let the touch ground him. He’d been breathing hard, his heart pounding in his chest, and as he relaxed his breathing he realized just how badly he was shaking. 

“You’re not going to kill anyone, Das,” Nisur murmured. “I’ll sit up with you, alright? We can talk, work together to keep those voices quiet.” 

Aphadas opened his eyes and found Nisur staring at him. The blue irises still glowed softly, catching the reflected light from the glow sticks that lit the chamber. Aphadas didn’t know what compelled him to do it, maybe it was something in the way that Nisur was staring at him, or the the of fondness that drowned out the voices in his mind for a moment, but he leaned forward, his hands wrapped around Nisur’s wrists, and he kissed him. 

Nisur froze for only a second, before he relaxed into Das’ embrace. It was awkward, Aphadas’ nose got in the way and he was sure his metal jaw would be cold to touch, but while the kiss lasted the voices were pushed out. He didn’t think, didn’t think that he shouldn’t be doing this, and Nisur didn’t push him away. He held on to Aphadas’ face and guided him into a more comfortable position, kissing back. Aphadas cheeks flushed hot at the quiet sounds Nisur’s lips made against his. They were soft, warm, with the sharpness of his teeth behind them…

A beeping noises interrupting them, and the moment broke. Aphadas turned scarlet, dropped his hands and pulled away. Nisur let go of his face, colour high in his cheeks as well, turning red skin even redder. 

Nisur coughed, licked his lips - Aphadas almost groaned when he saw his tongue flick out over his sharp teeth - and looked around for the communicator that was beeping persistently at them from the ground. He picked it up and turned it off. 

With the noise quieted, Aphadas could hear his own heart pounding in his ears. The reality of what he’d done settled on him, and he put his face in his hands yet again. At least the voices were gone, leaving nothing but his own ringing shame in his mind. 

***

Nisur was fairly certain he stared at the communicator for a solid minute before he, tentatively, looked up at Aphadas. 

The man looked utterly mortified, and Nisur couldn’t help his smirk. “That bad?” He asked. 

Aphadas looked at him. “What?” 

“Was the kiss that bad?” He settled down next to Aphadas against the door. It was his turn for watch, anyway. Vette and Mako were still out cold, he was amazed neither of them had woken up. Maybe they were just pretending to be polite, he honestly didn’t care. 

Aphadas groaned. “No. I just- I shouldn’t have done that, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Nisur grunted. Sure, he hadn’t expected it, but he couldn’t say he hadn’t enjoyed it, or that the thought of what it would be like to kiss Aphadas hadn’t crossed his mind. He patted Aphadas on the shoulder. “Maybe a little warning next time.” 

Aphadas stared at him, colour yet again rising in his cheeks. “Next time?” he asked quietly. 

Nisur heated up, instantly, and pulled his hand away. “I didn’t mean- I just… Those voices still bothering you?” He quickly changed the subject. Now was not the time to discuss this, to discuss them… kissing. It would have to wait for a time when they weren’t trapped in this nightmare of a building. 

“They’re… quieter. I let them get to me, I apologize.” Aphadas sounded ashamed, a little defeated. He paused for a moment, then glanced at Nisur out of the corner of his eye. “Are you expecting payment for this?” 

Nisur narrowed his eyes. “Payment? For what?” 

“Helping me, and Vette.” 

“Das, if I’d wanted payment for that I would have told you up-front. I’m doing this out of the goodness of my heart.” 

“Ah.”

Nisur sighed heavily. He had a feeling he wasn’t doing a very good job at reassuring Aphadas. “Look, Mako’s become good friends with Vette, and I like to keep Mako happy. And… Well, I like your company, too. You fight well, and you’re endearing in a weird, Sith-y way.” 

That put a smile back on Aphadas’ face. It was the first one Nisur’d seen since they’d come to the temple. Aphadas scratched at the back of his neck, dragged his hand down to, pulling at the tight muscles in his shoulders. “Lord Baras said bounty hunters only stayed loyal for credits… I don’t have much experience with them, myself, so I just assumed. I’m sorry.” 

Nisur shrugged. “Understandable.” 

Aphadas was quiet for a moment. “Do you enjoy being a bounty hunter?” 

Not expecting the question, Nisur wasn’t exactly sure how to answer it. “I guess. Do you enjoy being a sith?” 

Aphadas laughed quietly. It sounded hollow, drawn, like he had to force it. “I used to. I used to dream about being a powerful Sith, or maybe even the Emperor. I’m just… tired now. It doesn’t seem like it’s worth it.” 

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” 

“Have you seen a sleen yet?” 

Nisur peered at him, eyebrow raised. “A what?” 

“A sleen. They’re giant lizards that live in the jungles here. It’s a memory I still have from when I was a child, sneaking out into the jungle to try and ride one. My mother was very upset, she sent my father out to drag me home… I don’t remember what happened, but I don’t think I was able to catch one.”

Nisur chuckled. “We had giant lizards on Hutta, as well. Chemlizards, they’re called. Most of them aren’t very friendly.” 

“Sleens aren’t very friendly. I think I’d have a better chance riding one now than I did as a child, though.” 

“You… should probably not try to ride feral lizards. You’re big, but those things could bite off your hand.” 

Aphadas grumbled. “That is exactly what Vette told me.”

“She’s right,” Nisur huffed. “The girl knows what she’s talking about.” 

“She does,” Aphadas admitted. “I am glad she went and found you, and Mako. I don’t know what would have happened if we’d come in here alone.”

“You would have died,” Nisur said flatly. Aphadas gave him a look, and he smiled. “It’s alright to admit it, especially since you didn’t come in here all alone. You’ve got us.”

Aphadas nodded. He leaned back, head resting against the stone wall and his eyes shut again. He looked like he might have fallen asleep, with how still and quiet he’d gotten. It was amazing how quickly he could go from utter panic, to calm and sleepy. Nisur sighed and settled in to take up his watch until he could wake up Mako to take over for him.

“Nisur?” Aphadas mumbled.

Nisur grunted. 

“I’d like to kiss you again sometime, when I’m not out of my mind.” 

Nisur huffed a laugh. “Sure, Das. If we get out of this place alive, let’s do that.” 

“I won’t forget,” Aphadas warned. 

“I know. Go to sleep, big guy. I’ve got watch.” 

“Mm, alright…” 

Silence overtook the room again. Nisur reached up and massaged at his own temples, squeezed his eyes shut. He’d heard the voices, too. They’d been there in the back of his mind, quiet whispers trying to lead him off the path and into the darkness. He hadn’t said anything, not wanting to alarm the rest of them in case he’d been the only one to hear them, but it seemed like they’d been affecting all of them - Aphadas most of all. 

He made a note to tell Mako not to let them get to her, and to pass on the message to Vette. They couldn’t fall apart in this place, they’d get out of there and if Nisur had to drag all four of them out by himself, he damn well would.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight  
Leaving Dromund Kaas

It was raining when they left the temple. Aphadas actually felt like crying when they stepped out of the hot, stagnant ruins into the fresh, night air. The storm had broken the humidity and made the jungle almost bearable for once. Lightning flickered above the trees, and thunder rumbled, but the voices had stopped as they left the temple grounds behind them.  
Vette had the Ravager in her pack, and Nisur had found the ID chip he’d been sent to retrieve.

They’d been in the temple for two nights, emerging at the end of the third day.

“Let’s all make a solemn vow right now,” Mako said, “To never, ever go back there.”

“Agreed,” the other three echoed at once.

Vette laughed, and it was like none of it had happened. Aphadas was eager to forget it all, forget the whispering and the endless mobs of possessed slaves. He had barely slept the second night, hunkered down in a passage, keeping watch with Nisur so that Vette and Mako could get some rest. None of them had ended up sleeping well, too on edge as they all fought against the whispers of dead Sith lords that ran through their minds.

Aphadas didn’t want to remember any of it, except… He glanced at Nisur, who had put his helmet back on and was flicking through a datapad now that they were in-range of the holonet again. They hadn’t spoken much since Aphadas had, still somewhat to his horror, kissed him. None of them had spoken much. Now that they were out of the temple, alive and mostly well, Aphadas knew that he’d have to talk about it. Something he was not very good at doing, and somewhat dreading.

He did not regret kissing Nisur, though, so at least that was alright. He did, however, regret asking him if they could kiss again. Panic curled in his stomach as he thought about all the ways that could go wrong.

Vette’s hand on his arm snapped him out of it. “Are you alright, Das? You look a little pale.”

“Y-yeah, I’m just shaken from the… You know…” He waved over his shoulder, but he was still staring at Nisur, who had looked up from his datapad when he spoke.

Nisur cocked his head, and Aphadas could almost picture him raising a brow quizzically at him.

“I’m fine,” he choked out again and smiled weakly at Vette.

“Well, that’s good… You should put your mask back on, now that we’re out in the open. It’s raining, and I’m not helping you clean your jaw if you get shit in it.”

“Yes, mother.” Aphadas laughed and pulled the mask off his belt. He put it on, doing up the clasps that kept it in place.

“So you don’t just wear that thing to look cool?” Nisur asked.

Aphadas looked at him. Blinked a few times, then shook his head. “No, it keeps debris out of the joints of my jaw - the prosthetic is a little sub-par so things get in it if I don’t keep it covered…”

“Ah.”

“What about your helmet?”

“What about it?”

“Do you just wear it to look cool?”

Nisur laughed. “It keeps me anonymous. Clients don’t know what I look like under here, so when I take it off I can wander around without getting jumped.” He paused, then added, “And it looks pretty cool, yeah.”

“So you say…” Mako laughed when Nisur snapped his head around, presumably to glare at her through the visor of his helmet.

“They’re practical,” Nisur retorted.

Aphadas and Mako both laughed. It felt good to laugh, Aphadas thought to himself. It felt like he hadn’t laughed in decades, and he didn’t like that feeling. He didn’t like how tired he was, or how every inch of his body ached - talking hurt, where it tugged at his face, and the stump of his left leg ached. He’d run out of stims that morning, unable to take one before they rushed into the last push towards the exit. That push had taken them much longer than expected.

“Let’s get back to Kaas city,” Vette said before they could make anymore fun of Nisur, Aphadas was sure. “I’m exhausted.”

“We have to get the Ravager back to Baras,” Aphadas pointed out.

“Kriff Baras, and kriff Medle. They can both wait until we’ve slept,” Nisur practically snarled.

“Can we stay at your apartment tonight, Das? I really don’t want to sleep on the bunks in the Mando enclave.” Mako smiled sweetly at Aphadas.

He blinked back at her, but smiled behind his mask. “You want to?”

“If you don’t mind!”

“Of course not,” Aphadas laughed. “I was sort of expecting you would.”

He glanced at Nisur, who shrugged at him. “I’m not going to complain about a warm bed.”

“That’s settled, then!” Vette announced. “We’ll pick up something to eat on our way back. There’s a speeder at that Imperial outpost waiting to take us back, let’s go.”

Everyone nodded in unison. Nisur hung back with Aphadas a moment as the girls trudged off through the jungle towards the outpost. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, then said, “We can talk when we get back to your apartment, that sound alright?”

Aphadas nodded. “Yeah.”

***

At some point during their meal, Nisur had slipped off. Aphadas had noticed him leave, but had been in a conversation with Mako about the differences between Hutta weather and the weather on Dromund Kaas, and how this affected its lizard populations. Vette eventually stopped them, as Aphadas was getting loud - something he became aware of the moment she reminded him that he didn’t need to shout indoors.

Aphadas excused himself after that, wandering out to the living room where he could hear the soft click of metal. He found Nisur sitting on the couch and stood in the doorway, watching him for a bit. Out of his armour, Nisur looked much smaller, tired, and there were bruises here and there peeking out from behind his shirt, barely visible through the tattoos that Aphadas was pretty sure covered his whole body. Bruises from where his armour had been hit, signs that had he not been wearing it he probably would have been dead.

Try as he might, Aphadas hadn’t been able to keep all the mobs of possessed troops away from Nisur.

Aphadas’ own body was in a similar state, he was sure, but with stims back in his bloodstream he was comfortably numb to whatever pain he may have been in. He felt fuzzy, warm, not at the end of his rope for once.

He sat down on the couch next to Nisur a few minutes later, trying not to jostle him as he dropped his massive frame down. He rubbed at his prosthetic through his pants, the stump still aching despite the pain killers. He’d over-done it, he was sure, and was slightly nervous about taking off the leg and seeing the bruises it had leg behind. Something he’d deal with later, maybe ask Mako if he could borrow some kolto rub for them.

Nisur hadn’t said anything, just continued to clean his blasters.

“So, ah…” Aphadas began, but didn’t know where to go from there.

“You kissed me,” Nisur stated, without looking up.

Aphadas’ cringed a bit. “Yeah, I did.”

Nisur looked over at him and Aphadas tried his best not to break eye contact. He didn’t have to be shy, he told himself, he hadn’t been up until now so there was no point in starting. Still, he grimaced, and said, “I should probably apologize for it, properly, it was very forward of me.”

Nisur laughed. “You don’t need to, I enjoyed it.”

“Oh.”

“I also promised you another, if I remember correctly.”

Aphadas was pretty sure his heart skipped a beat. He’d completely forgotten that, but when Nisur mentioned it he could remember the anticipation it had brought about that night. He clenched his fist into the fabric of his pants.

“Did you forget?” Nisur asked. He sounded incredulous, Aphadas did not blame him.

“If I say no, you’ll know that I’m lying.” Aphadas smiled sheepishly. “There was a lot on my mind, and you caught me just before I drifted off. I don’t retain much information when I’m tired.”

Nisur hummed in response. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Aphadas nodded. He looked around the room, at his slowly wilting ferns, and remembered not for the first time that he needed to prune them. The thought left him, though, when he felt Nisur shift on the couch next to him. Put his blaster down on the table.

“Look, before I do…” Nisur hesitated. “I’m not great with feelings, but I’m going to be blunt and say that I like you, Das, and if you’re up for it, I’d like to see where this goes.”

Aphadas’ heart hammered in his chest, and for a moment he couldn’t really get enough air out to form coherent words. He just sort of hissed static through his vocalizer, before he remembered to cough and breathe again like a normal person. Nisur could probably hear his heartbeat, and even if he couldn’t, he could definitely see how read Aphadas’ cheeks had gotten. He cleared his throat once more, just to be safe, then said, “I am up for it. Er, if you are.”

He blushed, realizing that was a stupid thing to say, and was about to correct himself when Nisur rolled his eyes and tugged him forward by the front of his shirt. This time, it was Aphadas’ turn to freeze up with his heart pounding in his ears as Nisur kissed him, eventually melting forward into the kiss. He carefully placed his hands on Nisur’s waist to hold on to him, a little light headed as they kissed.

Nisur let go with one hand and brought it up to Aphadas’ face, cupping his cheek for a moment, then he dragged it back through Aphadas’ hair. He groaned a bit, on impulse, as Nisur’s fingers got tangled in the thick, red fibres. Nisur repeated the action, which earned him another groan, before he let his hand rest at the back of Aphadas’ neck.

The position was a little awkward, but they slowly shifted until Nisur was practically in Aphadas’ lap. His hands had not left Nisur’s waist, too uncertain to move them. It had been a long time since he’d kissed like this, long enough that he wasn’t even sure if it was his first time or not.

Nisur pulled away briefly, chuckling against Aphadas’ chin before he gently kissed the hard, cold metal. “You okay? You look like someone caught you in carbon freeze.”

“Ah,” Aphadas sighed. “I’m not… really sure what to do with my hands.”

Nisur chuckled. He moved his own, running them up Aphadas’ chest, which made him shiver appreciatively. “You can move them around, Das, I don’t mind.”

Aphadas grunted. He started with one, moving it around to the small of Nisur’s back, then ran his fingers up his spine until he got to the back of Nisur’s head. He could feel the raised lines of Nisur’s tattoo, and the stroke of his hands made Nisur’s back arch, his chest bumping against Aphadas’.

“You can definitely do that again,” Nisur mumbled, and returned to kissing Aphadas, this time working along the seam of metal and skin on his face, kissing every little scar and imperfection of his skin. Aphadas’ jaw went slack, exhaling in a contented sigh through his nose. He pulled his hand back down Nisur’s back, then brought both up to knead at Nisur’s tight shoulders, down along his arms, until he got up the courage to run one hand along Nisur’s cheek, then up and he traced his fingers around the base of the horns that crowned Nisur’s head.

Nisur moaned into Aphadas’ jaw. He seemed to be enjoying himself, which bolstered Aphadas’ courage a bit. Nisur was relaxing, the tension in his tight muscles ebbing away as Aphadas continued to knead at his shoulders, his back, down to his hip where he dug his fingers in.

They kissed again, open-mouthed and hot enough to form condensation along the metal of Aphadas’ jaw and throat from both their breathing. Aphadas could feel the heat everywhere, and could definitely - much to his embarrassment - feel himself starting to get hard. Nisur could tell, he knew, one of his hands was braced against Aphadas’ thigh, kneading at the muscle there. There was no way he hadn’t noticed. Aphadas groaned against Nisur’s lips.

He was just about to do something rash, like venture his hands underneath Nisur’s shirt, or try to get Nisur in the mood to move this towards the bedroom, when he heard the sound of one of the girls coming towards the living room.

“Hey, Nisur, I’m going to turn in for the- OH!” Mako exclaimed. “I’m sorry!”

She scurried away, back into the hall, but it had broken their rhythm. Aphadas immediately felt bad, his stomach sinking a bit. “Oh, god, she saw us-”

“She’ll be fine,” Nisur said. He put his hands on Aphadas’ hips and pressed in his thumbs, working his way up and down Aphadas’ sides as he caught his breath. He was looking down, and there was absolutely no way he had not noticed how hard Aphadas had gotten.

Nisur chuckled, glanced up at Aphadas’ flushed face. “Would you like to retire to the bedroom?”

Aphadas sucked in a breath. He would, he thought to himself, but he was uncertain. “I would, but, uh… It’s been a long time.”

Nisur nodded. “We don’t have to do anything else.”

Aphadas bent down and kissed Nisur’s cheek, before he gently slid him off his lap and stood up. He offered his hand to Nisur, who peered at him, but took it without hesitating. “Just be patient with me,” Aphadas told him as he led him towards the hall.

Nisur laughed and let himself be tugged along. “Sure.”

They passed by the kitchen on the way to Aphadas’ room. Aphadas caught Vette’s eye as they passed, and she grinned at him. It made heat rise in his face again, but he just shook his head and carried on. He had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to look either of them in the eye in the morning, but he would deal with that when it became a problem.

The door to his bedroom slid open, greeting them with the smell of the jungle outside. The bedroom was mostly filled with plants - green ferns and bushes covered in small, pink flowers - that lent it the smell, minus the pollution and mildew of the rotting undergrowth. There was a desk pushed up against one wall, piled with papers and a collection of knick-knacks that had found their way there. The bed was large, it had to be to fit Aphadas, set in a sort of clearing of the plants. The huge windows looked out over the city, lit up by thousands of lights, far enough away that they could almost be mistaken for stars.

Aphadas let go of Nisur’s hands when they got inside, the door sliding shut behind them. He turned around, saw Nisur looking around, and smiled at him as he watched him run his fingers along one of the fern leaves..

“You like plants, huh?” Nisur asked.

Aphadas laughed. “Korriban is a desert planet. Everything there is brown, and I wanted this place to be… Green.” He frowned a bit.

Nisur nodded. “That makes sense.”

For some reason, Aphadas found himself nervous as he stood there. It was something about the bedroom that made what they were doing serious, not just a casual make-out session on his couch. “Nisur, uh, I’m not sure what we should be doing…” He admitted.

“Let’s pick up where we left off,” Nisur said. He stepped forward, asking permission with his eyes before he put his hands on Aphadas’ hips.

He was short, Aphadas had to practically bend over to reach him, as Nisur only came up to his shoulder. He kissed Nisur’s forehead, then tilted his chin up with one hand and kissed his lips. He marvelled at how large his hands looked against Nisur’s face, a little self-conscious about how large he was. He would have commented on it, but Nisur’s hands found their way up the back of his shirt, and he dragged his blunt nails down Aphadas’ back.

Aphadas moaned against Nisur’s mouth. Nisur took the opportunity to press his tongue passed Aphadas’ lips, and Aphadas was pretty sure there was drool trickling down his chin by this point. He broke the kiss, wiping his mouth on his sleeve to get rid of it, and Nisur laughed.

“Bed?” he suggested, pushing back slightly on Aphadas’ hips to get him moving. “And you don’t need to worry about the drool, it’s fine.”

Aphadas grimaced, but he moved along with Nisur until the back of his knees hit the bed. He dropped down onto the mattress, rumpling the blankets, and scooted back. Nisur put one knee between Aphadas’ thighs, straddling his left leg as he climbed on top of him. He kissed Aphadas on the cheek, then reached down and tugged his shirt up, and over Aphadas’ head.

It caught briefly on his jaw, which resulted in a moment of struggling, before he was freed of the fabric prison. Nisur tossed it aside, then braced himself on Aphadas’ shoulders as he inspected his torso. Nisur snorted, and Aphadas hummed a question at him.

“You know, you only have one nipple,” Nisur commented.

Aphadas started laughing, putting a hand over his eyes. “I’m aware.”

“Just thought I’d let you know,” Nisur chuckled. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against Aphadas’ neck, avoiding the synthetique plating that covered his throat in favour of kissing down the sides, where his pulse pounded, hot under his skin.

Aphadas interrupted them for a moment to pull of Nisur’s shirt, revealing his long, muscle torso - covered in tattoos that formed intricate patterns over his red, flushed skin. Aphadas got caught up staring at them for a while, until Nisur pushed his chin up and kissed him again.

“They go all the way down, you know,” Nisur commented quietly, right into Aphadas’ ear.

Aphadas shuttered, the words going straight to his already rather hard dick. “Oh,” was all he managed, breathless.

Nisur trailed his hands down Aphadas’ chest, until he hit his belt. He undid it, pulling it free of the belt loops and tossed it to the ground to join their shirts. He did the same with his own, paused, before he glanced up at Aphadas, then palmed Aphadas through the soft leather of his pants. “Force, these cannot be comfortable with that hard of a dick,” Nisur said.

Aphadas laughed, and shook his head. “They’re not, really. Uh, should I take them off?”

“Yes.” Nisur pulled away, standing up for a moment as they both went about shucking their pants, leaving them in just their undergarments. Aphadas’ cock was straining at his jockstrap, and he could see that Nisur was in a similar situation. Nisur looked at him appreciatively, licked his lips, then gestured at Aphadas. “Crawl up higher?”

Aphadas scooted back up the bed, until he settled with his back propped up by the myriad of pillows he kept at the head of the bed. Nisur clambered back up, sitting himself on top of Aphadas’ thighs. He ran his hands along Aphadas’ firm stomach, fingers running through the stubbly trail of hair that led down to the base of Aphadas’ cock. He hadn’t shaved it down in almost a week, and because of how heavily he was scarred his body hair grew back in in odd, patchy patterns. Aphadas grumbled a bit, but it quickly turned into a moan as Nisur palmed him through his jockstrap.

“Kriff, you’re big,” Nisur commented. He tugged the underwear away and Aphadas’ cock flopped back against his thigh. Aphadas glanced down at it, colour high in his cheeks, a touch embarrassed at how exposed he was all of a sudden - but equally excited.

“It’s not… That big…” Aphadas defended his own cock, but he knew it was a lie. He was large to the point of inconvenience, something he was painfully aware of.

“It’s huge.” Nisur laughed, leaned forward and planted a kiss on Aphadas’ sternum. “It suits you, though, don’t worry about it. Can I touch?”

Aphadas groaned, covering his face, but he nodded. He felt Nisur’s warm hand wrap around his shaft, pulling up towards the head. Aphadas moaned into his hands, lifting his hips up a bit. Nisur worked him like that for a while, pulling back Aphadas’ foreskin, exploring his cock with his hands, until Aphadas felt him let go and kneel up.

He opened his eyes, watched as Nisur pulled off his own underwear and tossed it aside, then shimmied Aphadas’ off all the way. Aphadas wasn’t paying attention to that, though, he was looking at Nisur’s cock - which was covered in its entirety in black ink.

Nisur sat back down on Aphadas’ thighs, then scooted forward until he could bend over and kiss Aphadas. It was a soft kiss, that didn’t stay that way long as Nisur pushed his hips forward just enough to press his cock against Aphadas’. They both moaned, almost simultaneously, into each other’s lips. With one hand braced on Aphadas’ shoulder, Nisur brought his other down and gripped their cocks together as he pressed forward with his hips.

Aphadas moaned, each thrust giving just enough friction to send a shock of pleasure right up his spine. Nisur pressed closer to him, pulling away from Aphadas’ lips and kissing down his jaw. He was breathing heavily, breathy against Aphadas’ throat.

Aphadas didn’t think he’d be able to last very long, it had been so long since he’d done any of the sort that each stroke of Nisur’s hand had him moaning, bucking his hips up to meet each thrust of Nisur’s hips. He was so warm, he was sure he must have been sweating - the blankets would suffer from that, but Nisur chased each errant thought away with a new kiss, or another tug with his hand, until Aphadas felt himself get close.

“Force, Nisur-” Aphadas groaned. He reached up, dragged his hand along Nisur’s back until he could grip the firm muscle of Nisur’s ass, kneading it with his fingers. Nisur groaned against his throat, picking up his pace.

“Move your hips, Das.” Nisur kissed him again. “I’m- getting close.”

Aphadas kissed back, picking up the rhythm for Nisur. He dropped one hand from Nisur’s ass and reached between them, wrapping it around Nisur’s hand, their cocks, and squeezed gently.

The added friction did both of them in. Aphadas went first, his pace faltering and he only just managed to bite back whatever sound had threatened to escape his throat. He exhaled as he spent between his and Nisur’s stomach, lazily kneading Nisur’s ass and continuing to move his hand as Nisur came after him.

They breathed heavily for a moment, then Nisur flopped over onto his back next to Aphadas. Both of them stared at the ceiling, until Nisur started chuckling. Aphadas glanced at him, not sure what to say.

“That was good,” Nisur said.

Aphadas hummed his agreement. “It was.”

“Haven’t had it that good, ah, ever maybe.” Nisur shrugged.

Aphadas pushed himself up, reaching across Nisur’s chest to grab a box of tissues off his bedside table. There mainly to clean up drool in the mornings, but convenient for situations like this, as well. He pulled a few from the box and started slowly cleaning them both up. Nisur had his eyes shut, and didn’t complain, so Aphadas thought he was probably doing a good job.

“I can’t remember ever, uh, having slept with someone before,” Aphadas admitted. “I’m not sure if I ever have.”

Nisur cracked one eye open at that, peering up at him. “I thought that you and Vette..?”

“Force, no,” Aphadas exclaimed. “She was making fun of me. We got drunk together once and kissed, but that was as far as that ever went.”

“Oh.” Nisur chuckled. “Well, I guess in that case, I’m flattered.”

“Mm.” Aphadas finished up and tossed both the tissues and the box over the side of the bed. He’d deal with that in the morning, for the time he was bone-tired. He leaned over and kissed Nisur’s cheek, before he sat up and reached down to undo the straps that held his prosthetic in place. He slipped it off, and set it down on the ground next to the bed. When he lay back down, he found Nisur looking at him.

“Ah, I can keep it on if it bothers you?”

“Kriff, Das your leg is covered in bruises from that thing - doesn’t that hurt?”

Aphadas looked down. In the dim light, he could see the dark discolouration from where the straps and [word] of his prosthetic had been. He shrugged a bit. “A bit, but it doesn’t bother me.”

He heard Nisur sigh, then felt him settled against Aphadas’ side, one of his horns pressing into the muscle of Aphadas’ shoulder. “Remind me to make you put something on those in the morning… Kolto helps with bruises…” Nisur mumbled, obviously drifting off.

Aphadas was in a similar state, his entire body tired and his brain drowsy from post-sex chemicals. He smiled and adjusted his position a bit so he could rest comfortably with Nisur, but he didn’t close his eyes yet. Instead, he watched as Nisur slowly drifted off, the tension gone from his body.

[transition out of this scene smoothly because fuck it THAT’S ENOUGH GOODNIGHT.]

***

Captain Medle did not look pleased at the presence of a Sith in his office. He fidgeted and glanced about nervously as he paced in front of his desk. Nisur stood there, with his hands on his hips, and watched the imperial officer. Nisur had handed over the ID chip, and they were supposedly waiting for payment to arrive from elsewhere, but it was taking far too long.

“Payments not coming, is it.” Nisur snarled at Medle.

The officer practically jumped out of his skin when the silence was broken. He slowly turned to face Nisur, sweat visibly beading on his face. “Of course, it will just be a few more minutes. My subordinates are always late.”

Nisur growled at him, and the man flinched. Out of the corner of his visor, Nisur saw Aphadas shift and straighten up to his full, towering height. Medle glanced at the Sith and quickly retreated behind his desk. Nisur snickered at the coward.

Someone buzzed at the door to be let in. Medle smiled, too relieved looking for his own good, Nisur thought. “Ah, that must be them…” He pressed a button on the top of his desk, and the office door slid open.

Four armed guards stepped inside, blaster rifles immediately pointing at Nisur. They hadn’t been expecting Aphadas, it seemed, for they faltered when they saw him.

Nisur had his blasters drawn and pointed at the guards before they could even get through the door. He didn’t fire, however, as he had a feeling starting a blaster fight in the middle of Imperial Intelligence command was a bad idea. Even if it was completely within his right to defend himself. “What the frell are you playing at, Medle?” Nisur demanded. He practically spat the words at the man, who Nisur was sure flinched again. He didn’t take his eyes off the guards.

“I am very sorry about this,” Medle stammered. “You did what you were hired to do, and with efficiency - it’s just, you see, if anyone were to find out that I hired a bounty hunter to… Hurry the process by trespassing on sacred ground, I would be stripped of my rank. That is the exact opposite of what I want to happen, so-”

“So you have to kill us,” Aphadas rumbled. His voice wasn’t quite deep enough to achieve the depths of intimidation that Nisur’s could, but when you were as big as Aphadas was, it didn’t matter.

Nisur heard Medle make a strained noise. “I had no intention to meddle with the business of siths, my lord, but you seem to have gotten yourself involved… So yes, both of you will have to die.”

The armed guards entered the room, and the door slid shut behind them. Nisur fired immediately, before the men could even think about pulling the trigger. One of them went down, a smoking hole in his helmet the only sign that he’d even been shot. The others reacted accordingly: they opened fire.

Nisur moved to duck, but red light flooded his vision and the blaster bolts were deflected away by Aphadas’ sabres. Nisur hadn’t even seen him move, let alone drawn his lightsabres, but kriff was he thankful. He stepped back to give Aphadas more room, taking advantage of the sith’s bulk to duck down and shoot around him as Aphadas advanced on the guards.

They were pinned against the door to the office, the poor men had no chance. One of them fell to Aphadas’ blade, cleaved clean in two in a sweep that Nisur was sure was a little more showy than it needed to be. The third to die was picked off by Nisur, first a shot to his thigh to drop him, and another clean through the skull. The fourth dropped to his knees, his blaster clattering to the ground.

“Please! I’m just following orders-”

He didn’t get another word out, Aphadas thrust his blade through the man’s helmet. He slumped against the wall.

Nisur sighed heavily, put one blaster away, and turned to face Medle with the other already trained on the man, cowering behind his desk. “Das, drag him out, will you?” Nisur asked.

Aphadas sheathed his blades. He reached under the desk, and Medle started to struggle and shout. He was screaming for help, but Nisur had a feeling no one was coming for him. Aphadas hauled the man up by the back of his neck and dumped him on the ground in front of his desk. Medle tried to escape, but Aphadas stopped him by pinning the officer’s leg under his boot. He leaned his weight forward and Medle shrieked in pain.

“Oh Force, please! I made a terrible mistake, just let me live! I’ll pay you double, no, triple what we agreed!” Medle sobbed.

Nisur stared at him. He considered it for a moment, that was a lot of credits, but then he glanced up at Aphadas. The Sith almost looked bored, but when they made eye contact a flicker of concern crossed his features.

Medle had tried to kill Nisur, sure, but he had also tried to kill Aphadas, and Nisur was fond enough of the Sith that he took that as a double offense to his person. “I don’t take kindly to people trying to kill me, Medle,” Nisur informed him.

He pressed his blaster to the man’s head, and Medle deflated. He stopped struggling and just looked at the ground. “You’re right, you’re right… Just get it over with, then. I don’t deserve to keep living after this failure.”

Nisur went to pull the trigger, but Aphadas put his hand on the blaster to stop him. Nisur looked up at him, cocked his head a bit.

“If you kill him, you won’t be able to collect your reward,” Aphadas said. “Besides, it’s not as if those guards stood a chance against us.”

There was a momentary pause, then Nisur laughed.

Medle looked like he couldn’t believe his eyes. Nisur couldn’t really believe it, either. He had been perfectly willing to kill the guy and absorb whatever losses to his credit count it meant. But, he holstered his blaster and let his hands drop to his hips. “Kriff, Medle, it looks like today is your lucky day! Transfer those credits and we’ll leave you alone.”

Aphadas lifted his boot off Medle’s thigh, leaving behind a very clear print of the tread, and Medle scrambled to his feet. He got to his desk and tapped away at the monitor built into the desk top. Nisur heard his communicator ping and checked it, the message that the transfer had gone through appearing on the little screen. He put it back on his belt and nodded to Aphadas.

“Time to go, big guy.”

Aphadas nodded. Nisur stepped over the corpses of the guards, hoped dearly that Medle had a fun time trying to clean up his own mess, and left the office with Aphadas at his heel. Nisur stopped dead, however, just as the door slid shut.

Standing across the hall from him was the togruta woman he had bumped into last time he had been there. She sneered at Nisur, showing off her sharp teeth.

“I saw armed guards go in,” she said. “I assume they are dead, as I did not see them come back out.”

Nisur narrowed his eyes, gave her only a curt nod in response.

The togruta’s eyes flicked up to Aphadas. “Sith, are you involved in this?”

Aphadas shifted behind Nisur, who was pretty sure he was straightening up again. “I do not think that is any of your business, agent,” Aphadas replied cooly.

The togruta laughed. She pushed away from the wall, and walked up to them both. Nisur stepped to the side, Aphadas following him, so the exit to the main hall was to their back. Nisur glanced between Aphadas and the togruta, she was only a few inches shorter than him - but was taller if you included her montrals. Aphadas still had her beat on sheer mass, however, and even she didn’t seem like she could be bothered to try and intimidate him.

“You should leave, before someone catches wind of this,” the togruta said. “I’ll be keeping an eye on you, bounty hunter, so watch your back.”

She stepped past them and opened the door to Medle’s office, gave Aphadas a nod before she disappeared inside.

Nisur bristled inwardly at the threat. He didn’t let her see his reaction to her comment though, turned on his heel and tapped Aphadas on the chest with his fist. He walked off without another word. Aphadas caught up to him, he looked concerned but said nothing as they left Medle’s office behind.

The whole situation had been eerily familiar.

Just as they turned a corner, Nisur heard the sound of a blaster go off and what might have been a scream. Aphadas looked back over his shoulder.

“Do you think she…?” He left the question hanging.

Nisur shrugged a shoulder. “I got paid, so I don’t care. Don’t think too much about it.”

“She threatened you,” Aphadas pointed out in a whisper that was just a little too loud. He had trouble keeping his voice low, Nisur had come to realize, and wondered if it had something to do with the synthetic voice box that had replaced his damaged one.

“People do that sometimes, Das,” Nisur said. “I’m used to it.”

Aphadas huffed, but he didn’t say anything else for some time, and when he did he seemed to have forgotten that he was distressed by it (which was a little flattering, Nisur thought, but he was also glad for the change in subject).

Nisur heard Aphadas groan, and saw him run a hand through his bright, red hair. He hadn’t bothered spiking it up that morning, they had run out of time - rising later than either of them were used to. “What’s up?” Nisur asked.

“I really don’t want to go talk to Baras…” Aphadas sighed heavily.

Nisur laughed.

\---

Lord Baras was already pacing furiously when Aphadas let himself in to the man’s office. Nisur followed behind him, having agreed to come when Vette had cited ‘really, really not wanting to’ as a reason for her and Mako to set about preparing Nisur’s newly ‘acquired’ ship.

It was stolen, Aphadas had discreetly helped him do it, but they all agreed to just behave like it had been purchased fair and square.

Nisur was officially in the Great Hunt, after defeating all his competition in the arena. Aphadas had watched him fight on his own, and had been impressed. They were both still pumped up from the fighting, and seeing Baras wheel around to - presumably - glare at him made Aphadas want to walk right back out.

“Apprentice, I have been informed that you returned to the city yesterday evening. Why did you wait until now to return to me?” Baras demanded.

Aphadas scratched at his cheekbone, trying to think of something better to say than ‘I didn’t want to.’ “I needed time to recover, the temple took a lot out of my associates and I.”

“So, you were too weak to fully withstand the powers in that temple,” Baras said. “Pitiful. Were you at least able to retrieve the device?”

Aphadas saw Nisur set his shoulders, and couldn’t help the little smirk he got on his face at the thought that Nisur was being protective of him. It was a nice thought. He was also glad his mask hid whatever expressions his mouth attempted to make, because he saw Baras’ head turn just a fraction to look at Nisur, as well.

“Who is this?” Baras demanded.

Nisur said nothing, his hands planted firmly on his hips and shoulders squared. Any lesser man would have been intimidated by Lord Baras, Aphadas knew that - he’d seen subordinates of the man cower in fear at just the mention of his name. Aphadas had never experienced something similar, Baras was just another Sith to him, and a man he had to impress in order to continue upwards in the chain of command.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine  
A Man of the Empire

Aphadas was already dragging his boots, Balmorra smelt of sulphur and dust. The place put a pit in his stomach that twisted with each wiff of discharged explosives that drifted on the breeze from the battlefields. He didn’t tell the others, citing tiredness for his apparent despondency, but Balmorra left him uneasy. He sorely wished he didn’t have to be there, but Baras’ quest to uncover this jedi padawan he was so consumed by had led them here, and with a contract from the Great Hunt also pointing Nisur towards Balmorra, he had little choice.

There were heated voices drifting down the hall, as they made their way towards the offices of Aphadas’ Imperial contact. That didn’t help improve his mood, he had no want to deal with grouchy officers who, under most circumstances, believed they knew better than Sith when it came to military operations. 

In Aphadas’ case, they would be correct, but that didn’t mean he wanted to feel stupid as some hoity-toity officer lectured him about battle strategies. 

“Vette, do you want to just go talk to them, and I’ll wait in the hall…” He looked over his shoulder to the twi’lek girl, who narrowed her eyes back at him. 

“Under no circumstances do I want to do that,” she said. “You Imperials are all so rude to aliens.” 

“I’m not an Imperial,” Aphadas grumbled. 

“You live in the Empire, Das, you’re an Imperial,” Vette informed him. “And you can be rude to aliens.” 

Aphadas stopped and turned to face her, frowning at her. “Am I? I do not mean to be-”

Vette laughed. “I’m teasing you, buddy. You’re shockingly nice for someone born and raised in the Empire. I like to think I have something to do with that.” 

Aphadas stared at her, shook his head slowly, then turned around to the open office door. He stepped through the door just in time to hear part of the argument the pair of soldiers in the room were having. 

“I apologize sir, I did my best-”

“If that’s your best, then you are useless to me. I can shoot you dead with a clear conscious.” 

The black haired man, who spoke with the sort of cool, collected authority that you could only learn from the Imperial officer’s academy, didn’t even blink as he threatened the other man. “Is that what you want?” He snapped at the soldier. 

“N-no, sir,” the other man stammered. He was already backing away for the door. 

“Then focus, Jillans, you’re dismissed.” 

The soldier saluted, and turned on his heel to scurry off. He barely gave Aphadas a glance as he brushed by, Aphadas’ gaze following him as he left the room. He turned back to find the black-haired man looking at him and for a moment, he wanted to punch him in the face. 

“I apologize for that display, my lord,” the officer called. “You must be Lord Aphadas?” 

Aphadas just nodded in reply. He approached the officer, who was more likely than not the contact Baras had told him about. He’d already forgotten the name Baras had given him. Something that began with an ‘M’...

“I am Lieutenant Malavai Quinn-”

That was it. A posh Imperial name for a posh Imperial officer. 

“I am to be your liaison here on Balmorra.”

“Do you enjoy scaring your subordinates shitless?” Aphadas asked. 

Quinn stared at him with a little, pouty frown. “Pardon me, my lord?” 

Aphadas nodded back towards the door. “Jillans.” 

“Ah, yes. He and his unit are not producing results, so I attempted to motivate him through fear. It is not the best tactic, but it will perhaps give him the… incentive he requires to do his job properly. If he does not, he’ll be reassigned, or perhaps demoted. Not killed, of course, I would never…” 

He trailed off, shifting his stance awkwardly. It was evident that the conversation was making him uncomfortable, and Aphadas was glad that he hadn’t put on his mask yet that morning. He gave Quinn a nasty smirk that showed off all his teeth. 

“I would.” He said it quietly, and saw the lieutenant flinch - exactly what Aphadas had hoped for. He didn’t like it when people used fear to intimidate, but it didn’t mean that he wasn’t above doing it himself. 

Quinn looked away. He’d only lost his composure for a moment, and when he looked back he had a placid, polite smile on his face. “Lord Baras told me to expect you to arrive with an associate, should we wait for him, or?” 

Aphadas shook his head. “He’s not coming, you can proceed.” 

“Of course. Lord Baras will brief you personally, but I am to acquaint you with the climate on Balmorra first.” 

Aphadas nodded, and looked over to Vette. She was hovering just behind him, and gave him a little smile that told him she was listening. He was already prepared to keep as little of his time on this planet as he possibly could. “I am familiar with the conflict, but it’s been some time since I was last on-world.”

Quinn raised a perfectly manicured brow. “You’ve been to Balmorra before, my lord?” 

“Let’s not talk about it, please.” Aphadas blinked slowly. 

“Ah, yes, of course… As you may know, the Empire wrenched control of Balmorra from the Republic during the war, but we were never able to completely eradicate them. There are still rebel factions fighting against Imperial control, some supported by the Republic, some not. The Republic will not admit to backing these rebellions, as it would be in violation of the Treaty of Coruscant, but the evidence is all there…”

“So what am I doing here, then?” 

“Something tells me that Baras intends for you to leave an impression on the rebel forces, and I look forward to that. They have been giving me headaches for months…”

When Aphadas said nothing in reply to that, because what could he say, really, Quinn crossed over to a holoterminal and brought it to life, typing in the call coordinates. “I have a secure line to Lord Baras already prepared, if you are ready?” 

Aphadas nodded. 

Seconds later, Baras’ image appeared. “Ah, I see you have convened with my apprentice, very good lieutenant. Leave us.” 

Quinn nodded respectively, and left the office. Aphadas almost requested he stay, not feeling up to listening to the Darth drone on about jedi and spies, but he also had a feeling that the less time he spent with the lieutenant, the less likely he would be to get one of Aphadas’ fists to his face. So instead, Aphadas turned to look at the small, flickering blue image of Baras and listen to what he had to say. 

[write a transition here]

Aphadas very nearly scooped Nisur up into a bone crushing hug when they finally tracked him down in Sobrik. He was holding a collection of, what looked like, fried lizard tails on a stick in one hand, his helmet tucked under his other arm. He had looked exceptionally grumpy, but had perked up the moment he was alerted to their approach - Mako had spotted them and started waving to get their attention. He held out the lizard tails to Aphadas, who accepted them graciously - he was starving. 

“How did your meeting go?” Nisur asked with a smile as Aphadas took two of them from him, passing one off to Vette when she elbowed him in the ribs. 

“The officer Baras has me working with is a bit…” Aphadas trailed off as he tried to think of the best way to explain Quinn to Nisur. 

“He has a stick so far up his ass, I doubt it will ever come out,” Vette offered. It was crude, but Aphadas had to admit it was probably right. 

Nisur laughed. “So, like every other Imperial officer, then.” 

“Pretty much,” Vette said. “It’s a shame, he’s kind of cute. He’s got these two little moles on his cheek and I kind of want to smack them off, you know.” 

Aphadas frowned at her. “That’s cute?” 

Vette patted his arm. “You wouldn’t understand, he’s not your type.” 

“He’s your type?” Aphadas wrinkled his nose, and decided to distract himself from the thought by stuffing one of the tails whole into his mouth. They’d been deboned, so he was in no danger of choking to death on them. As he chewed the tender meat, crunchy from the batter and the scales still present in some places where they’d been hastily removed - the perils of street food - he turned to Nisur. “Did you find your contact?” He asked after successfully swallowing. 

Nisur nodded. “He’s going to be a royal pain in my ass, but yeah, I did.”

“Do you think we can do something about that poor cathar woman?” Mako asked. “She can’t be safe with him.”

“It’s not our problem what he does with his slaves,” Nisur informed her. “I don’t trust that woman, anyway, nobody is that stupid.” 

“So, we all have people we’re not too happy about to deal with.” Vette was eating her own lizard tail at a much slower pace. 

Aphadas eyed it as she talked, still hungry - his enormous stomach demanding more food to sate its hunger. Nisur must have noticed, however, because he waved the rest of the sleen tails under Aphadas’ nose. 

“These are all for you, Mako and I ate already,” Nisur said. 

“You bought me food?” Aphadas asked. He took the tails anyway, starting immediately to devour one of them, but couldn’t help but gaze wistfully down at Nisur, who quickly looked away. 

“You didn’t eat at breakfast,” Nisur said as explanation for his actions. His one hand now free of lizard-tails-in-a-stick, he stuffed his helmet back on with both hands to, Aphadas guessed, hid the flush he’d noticed creeping up Nisur’s cheeks. 

“Thank-you.” Aphadas grinned, then wiped his mouth on the back of his sleeve to get rid of any bits of food that might have escaped his mouth. He looked around as he did, spotted a vendor nearby and his eyes went wide. 

Vette had followed his gaze, and managed to grab his arm before he just left the group without saying a word. “Das, where are you going?” She asked. 

He passed her the remaining lizard tails, and gestured towards the vendor. “I think… I’ll just be over there, alright?” 

Vette raised a brow at him, but she took the food and let go of his arm. “Don’t go anywhere else, alright?” 

Aphadas nodded and walked away from the group, towards a collection of vendor tents that had been erected along the street. They all looked like they most likely did not have vending liscences, and were potentially selling highly illegal goods, but there was a steady stream of people milling about along the row of tents and no Imperial MPs seemed to be doing anything about them. Aphadas approached one tent that looked a little shadier than the others. 

The vendor, a scruffy looking Rodian woman, eyed him suspiciously as he approached. “You look like a Sith. I don’t want any trouble with Sith,” she announced when he got close enough to hear her. 

Aphadas practically ignored her, peering over her tables to the back of the tent, where he’d spotted a flash of familiar colour. He grinned when he saw it, a small cage with an even smaller creature inside. “That’s a varactyl,” Aphadas announced. 

The rodian woman looked over her shoulder at the cage, then back at Aphadas. She seemed a little wary of him, her large, globus eyes fixed on his mouth - Aphadas had forgotten that he wasn’t wearing his mask. He unhooked it and put it on, covering up his metal jaw. 

“What’s it doing on Balmorra?” He asked her. 

She glanced at the cage again, then back at him. “I’m from off-world. Brought it with me. Are you interested, or are you just asking questions.” 

“It’s just a baby, isn’t it?” 

“Yes. I take it you’re just asking questions.”

Aphadas shook his head, leaning over to try and get a better look at the mass of blue-green scales and feathers. Two small, beady black eyes stared back at him and the varactyl started to hiss. “I want it,” Aphadas announced. 

The rodian stared at him, and he said, once more, “I want it. How much?”

“For real? Well. No one is interested in these things unless they’re trained. It comes with a collar.” She gave him the price, and he shuffled in one of the pouches on his belt for the credits. He didn’t have enough on hand, naturally, as he quickly remembered as he counted them out that Vette didn’t let him carry that many credits with him for a reason. 

“Just a moment,” he told the rodian and trotted back to the group. 

Vette was, so it appeared, telling Nisur about the state of affairs on Balmorra when she saw him approach. She stopped, and narrowed her eyes. “What?” 

“I need 1000 credits,” he informed her. 

Her face went blank for a moment as she processed his request, then she very slowly asked, “Why?” 

“I need to buy a lizard.” He was bouncing on his feet excitedly, glancing back at the tent as he spoke. He was worried, however ridiculously, that someone else might come and scoop up the varactyl behind his back. 

Vette groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. “By the stars… Das, what kind of lizard could possible cost that many credits?” 

He paused before answering. “A varactyl?” 

“A varactyl.” 

“Yes!” 

Aphadas heard Nisur laugh, and he looked over. Both Nisur and Mako were staring at him, Mako looked amused and Aphadas guessed that Nisur probably had a similar look on his face. Vette just looked exhausted. 

“Am I being unreasonable? They’re my credits, Vette, I can purchase what I-”

“I know, I know! But what in the galaxy would possess you to think buying a varactyl would be a good idea?” 

“You can ride them, and it’s in a cage that is much too small for it,” Aphadas explained. “We have enough room on the ship to keep it-”

“Someone has to look after it!” Vette exclaimed. “We’re out here running around errands for Baras, do you think we have time for that?” 

Aphadas ground his teeth together. The urge to pull rank was incredibly strong, but a thought crossed his mind. “We can leave it with Quinn. I’m sure he can secure what I’ll need for it, and besides, once it’s properly trained it will be an asset.” 

“You really want that lizard, huh?” Nisur asked. 

Aphadas nodded. “Yes, I do. Vette, please?” 

Vete groaned loudly. “Fine, fine.” She pulled out the credits Aphadas needed and handed them over to him. “If it eats Quinn, it’s your fault, Das.” 

Aphadas grabbed her hand when she put the credits in his and pulled her into a quick hug, before he rushed back over to the vendor. He heard Vette shout after him, but didn’t hear what she said over his heart pounding with excitement in his ears. 

He came back nearly ten minutes later with the baby varactyl, maybe half his height long, tucked under one arm. It was covered in turquoise scales, with blue and green feathers, and its muzzle had been tapped shut for the time being, a black leather collar secured around its neck - Aphadas had his free hand resting on this collar. It surveilled the group as Aphadas walked up to them. 

Mako gasped loudly. “It’s just a baby!” 

“Kriff, I thought you meant a grown-up lizard, Das. This is just… this is a kriffing inconvenience!” Vette threw up her arms and brought her hands back down to press the heel of her palms into her eyes. She muttered something that sounded like, ‘lizard-loving fool,’ but didn’t say anything else. 

Nisur was the only one who actually came up to him and patted the varactyl on the head. “We can’t do anything with you carrying that thing around, let’s go dump it with that officer,” he said. 

Aphadas nodded and shifted his grip on the varactyl a bit, who had struggled at first but now seemed quite content with the ride it was getting. He smoothed his hand along the scales on its neck. “I could carry it on my back, like a little kid,” Aphadas mused. 

Nisur snorted, started to say something, but Vette interjected with, “Take that thing to Quinn. Now. We’ll deal with figuring out how to train it later.” 

\---

The man that Nisur assumed was Quinn was standing with his back to them when they arrived at his offices. Aphadas was leading the way, the other three right on his heels, as they were all fairly excited to see what, exactly, the officer’s reaction would be to the baby varactyl Aphadas had tucked under his arm. 

Quinn turned around when they came into the room. He was looking over some datapad and did not bother to look up right away. “My lord, I expected you would be on your way to the droid factory by now, is there something I can-”

He looked up and froze, eyes fixed on the lizard in Aphadas’ arms. Nisur snickered, the poor kid looked utterly terrified. 

“What is that?” 

“You never seen a varactyl before?” Nisur asked him. The officer looked confused, until Nisur stepped around from behind Aphadas - he cringed inwardly when he realized that Aphadas’ bulk had been completely obscuring him from view - and then Quinn zeroed in on him. 

“Yes, I have,” he snapped. Then he looked back to Aphadas, Nisur had the feeling he was being ignored. “My lord, if I may inquire, why do you have a varactyl chick?”

“I bought him,” Aphadas announced proudly. He hefted the baby lizard up higher, holding it with a hand under either of the lizard’s armpits. It dangled from his hands and looked rather put-out at the whole ordeal, with its muzzle still taped shut and the tip of its tail dragging on the floor. 

Quinn moved his mouth, like he was trying to find words, but was not succeeding. “I see,” he eventually settled. 

Vette laughed. She came into the room - giving Das and the lizard a wide berth - and smirked in Quinn’s direction. “Oh, this is perfect. Das, tell him what you plan to do with it,” Vette prompted. 

“You’re going to babysit him while we go to the droid factory,” Aphadas announced. 

Quinn went pale. “I’m sorry- I’m going to what?” 

“Babysit,” Vette repeated. 

Quinn glared at her, then looked back quickly to Aphadas. “I do not know what you think my position is, but I am not a lizard babysitter.” 

Aphadas’ arms drooped a bit. Nisur wondered if he was getting discouraged, but he saw the sith’s eyebrows quirk upwards. “Lord Baras informed me that you would be more than willing to accommodate any needs I may have while on Balmorra, Quinn, and I need you to babysit my lizard.” 

Quinn visibly flinched. “I… see. What am I to do with it?” 

“Oh, just make sure he doesn’t get into trouble. Maybe feed him. Look into training varactyls to ride,” Aphadas shrugged. He put the lizard down on the ground, and Quinn immediately took a few steps back lest the lizard bolt towards him. The varactyl just stayed at Aphadas’ feet, blinking around at the rest of the group. It stretched out its neck and sniffed at Nisur’s boot, who was standing closest to it. 

It didn’t seem very hostile at all, in fact it was pretty cute once you got past the fact that it was a giant, scaly thing. Once it was satisfied with smelling Nisur’s boot, it settled down onto its belly and rested its chin on the ground, right between Aphadas’ boots. 

“Lizard whisperer,” Nisur heard Vette whisper under her breath. Mako giggled. 

“It… well, at least it seems calm,” Quinn said. He set the datapad down on his desk and crossed the room towards them. Nisur took a moment to size him up. The officer was tall enough, a touch on the slender side, and looked like he probably hadn’t done any actual field work in some time, but there were the hard edges of a soldier under all the pomp of a bureaucrat. He’d probably been benched at some point, and Nisur wondered what he’d done to deserve that. 

Nisur nudged Aphadas with his elbow. “We need to get a move on if we want to make it to that factory before dark.” 

“Yes, of course,” Aphadas said. “Oh, Quinn, this is my associate, Nisur. The one Lord Baras mentioned.” 

Quinn barely even glanced up at Nisur. “It’s a pleasure.” 

Nisur grunted in response. He patted Aphadas on the arm, then turned around to door. 

As they left, Quinn called after them. “What am I supposed to feed it?” 

Aphadas stopped and glanced back at Quinn, shrugged one shoulder. “I’m sure you have some unruly subordinates who would make a good snack.” 

With that, he walked out of the office, and Nisur chuckled. 

\---

The droid factory was a living nightmare, and it was late by the time they returned to Sobrik. Mako was in a bad mood, in part because Nisur had chosen to kill the slicer girl they’d been getting information from, but also because a droid had detonated too close to her and doused her in oil. She had grumbled all the way back, about being sticky and how she didn’t want to walk anymore. 

It was late, and Aphadas was just as tired as her, but he didn’t complain. Just trudged along the road in stoney silence, bruised and battered from being hit repeatedly by the malfunctioning, homicidal droids. Vette was just as quiet, walking along beside him. They were a little ways ahead of Mako and Nisur, who in the midst of a rather one-sided bickering match. The ruined houses, destroyed in the constant bombardment from artillery during the war, were eerily quiet all around them, but Sobrik was in sight. Technically, they were already well past the city limits, but the fortified walls of the undamaged city were still a ways ahead. 

Vette chuckled suddenly, and Aphadas looked quizzically down at her. 

“I hope that varactyl terrorized Quinn,” Vette said. “It’s the only thing that could possibly cheer me up.” 

Aphadas snorted. He didn’t want to think poorly of Quinn, the officer was just doing his job and had been very polite the entire time. It was painfully obvious, however, that he was a man of the Empire. His ideals did not mesh well with their little rag-tag group, it was not his fault that he only barely got along with any of them. “We should perhaps not antagonize the only life form on this world that is on our side…” 

“You don’t believe that, you handed that thing over to him in the first place.”

“Ah, I suppose I did.” Aphadas chuckled. It was payback for yelling at that subordinate, whether or not Quinn became aware to that fact did not really matter to Aphadas. A thought occurred to him, however, and he faltered in step. “Do you think the varactyl is okay? Quinn doesn’t know how to look after them.” 

Vette outright laughed. “I’m sure the lizard is fine, Das. Quinn looks like the type of man who knows how to do research. He probably has that thing perfectly trained by now.” 

Quinn did not. It became evident when they arrived back at the military offices and found Quinn sitting at his desk, head resting in one hand, as he sorted through a pile of reports. There were things knocked off the shelves, and even on of the couches in a corner for, presumably, entertaining guests had been flipped right over. It looked like someone had let loose a herd of gizka in there, which was admittedly pretty close to the truth. 

Aphadas immediately felt bad, but his first concern was the fact that he could not see the varactyl anywhere. “Where is he?” he demanded. 

Quinn shushed him. It was such an unprofessional act that it took Aphadas back, but he understood a moment later when Quinn motioned under the desk. 

“It fell alseep,” Quinn explained, quietly, without making too any sudden movements. “I allowed it to tire itself out after I fed it this evening. It seems to enjoy the dark space under my desk.” 

Vette giggled gleefully when she saw the state of the office. Nisur and Mako had already left for the Mantis, but Vette had wanted to come along to see what havoc the baby varactyl had wrought. “Did it give you lots of trouble, Quinn?” Vette asked. 

Quinn flinched. “I would prefer if you were to address me as lieutenant, we are not friends-” 

“Rude,” Vette muttered. 

“- But yes, it did give me some… trouble.” 

Aphadas wandered over to the desk during that exchange. He crouched down next to Quinn’s chair and peered under, finding the bundle of blue scales curled up in a heap in the corner. Aphadas whistled quietly through his teeth, and the varactyl opened its eyes to peer at him. He smiled fondly at the thing, already so very glad that he’d rescued it from that cage in the market. 

“Come here, little guy,” Aphadas coaxed. “I need to take you back to the ship, so Quinn doesn’t end up skinning you alive.” 

Quinn sniffed somewhere above his head. “I would not do that, my lord. I admit, once it stopped ripping apart my office, it was quite enjoyable company.” 

Aphadas looked up at him, a grin spreading across his face. “Yeah?” 

The lieutenant blushed, which only made Aphadas grin wider, and looked away hurriedly. “It, ah, would pester me to pet it from time to time. It served to break up the monotony of my afternoon- You know, it is quite late, and I would like to retire at some point.”

At that moment, the varactyl decided that it was curious about the hand that Aphadas had stretched out towards it, and it uncurled itself - jarring the desk in the process. This bumped Quinn’s office chair, sending him off-balance, and to steady himself he instinctively put a hand on Aphadas’ shoulder. 

They locked eyes for a brief, awkward moment, before Quinn hastily removed his hand and backed away, breaking eye contact by looking at the ground. Aphadas shrugged it off, but he heard Vette snicker from across the room. Choosing to ignore it, he put a head around the varactyl’s collar and hauled the lizard out from under Quinn’s desk. 

He’d taken the tape off it muzzle at some point, but the varactyl did not seem interested in biting Aphadas. Instead, it tried to bodily crawl up onto his shoulders as he got to his feet. He swayed a bit as it clambered around on him, finally settling in place across his shoulders, looking around the room from its new vantage point. 

“Well, isn’t he friendly,” Vette said. She crossed the room, winked at Quinn, who flushed again - but this time, he looked angry more than anything else - and reached up to scratch the varactyl behind the jaw. “And I thought you were going to be a little monster, yes I did,” she cooed at the baby lizard. 

Aphadas chuckled. “Varactyls are docile as chicks, it’s why they make good mounts. If you can find and train them young, of course,” he informed both Vette and Quinn. 

“How in blazes do you remember that, but not our mission objective?” Vette demanded. 

Aphadas shrugged, and the varactyl rode the movement of his shoulders easily - its head stayed perfectly in place, so that it did not have to disturb the scratches it was receiving from Vette. “I like lizards,” he said simply. 

“Right,” Vette sighed. “You like lizards.” 

Quinn cleared his throat, and all three of them looked around at him. “If that is all, my lord, I believe I will return to the barracks for the night. If you could return to my office in the morning, I have orders to patch you through to Lord Baras at the nearest convenience, but I believe he can wait until you have had a chance to rest.” 

Aphadas nodded. “Good man, Quinn.”

“We’ll be on the D5-Mantis, it’s docked at the spaceport, if you need us for anything during the night. Your best bet is to hail the ship, or my personal communicator. Do you have the frequency for it?” Vette asked. 

Quinn shook his head. “I have Lord Aphadas’, so surely there won’t be-” 

“If you wake him up in the middle of the night, he’ll have no idea what’s going on and you’ll, more than likely, have a bounty hunter on your ass for disturbing his sleep, as well,” Vette explained. “You’ll want to hail me.”

Quinn raised an eyebrow. “If you insist,” he said, and took down Vette’s frequency on a datapad as she recited it. 

Aphadas could never remember his own. He had a communicator that kept numbers programmed into it, Vette had added all the necessary ones to it, and updated it since they’d joined up with Nisur and Mako. Aphadas absently scratched at the varactyl’s neck as he watched Vette and Quinn sort out communicators. Vette’s comment about Nisur made him a little anxious to get back to the Mantis, the urge to just fall into bed with Nisur was strong. They’d been sharing a bed for the past few nights, nothing more, and it was nice, even if Nisur woke before him and was already up and about by the time Aphadas rolled out of bed. 

He’d been enjoying the domesticity of it, however out of place it seemed with the path his life was taking. 

When he roused himself out of his thoughts, Vette was staring at him. He had a sinking feeling that she’d said something to him, but he could not for the life of him pick out what she might had told him. He looked down at his own feet, sheepishly. “Should we leave now?” 

“Yes,” Vette said. “Quinn is being very insistent that would get the kriff out of here so he can sleep.”

“I would never use such language,” Quinn protested, but Aphadas chose to ignore him. 

He nodded to Quinn as they left the office, the varactyl still in place on his shoulders. It made happy chirping noises as it swiveled its head around to take in the new surroundings as they walked back to the spaceport. Aphadas kept his hand firmly on its collar, just in case it decided to leap off of him, but the varactyl seemed pretty content to remain perched on his shoulders. 

Vette glanced up at it. “Are you going to name him?” 

Aphadas hadn’t even thought about that yet. He watched the lizard out of the corner of his eye for a few paces, trying to figure out if he could come up with anything. “I don’t know what to name him,” he finally said. “I won’t need a speeder once he grows up and I can ride him… Oh, maybe that?” 

“Maybe what?” 

“Speeder.” 

Vette stopped. They’d reached the hangar where the mantis was docked, the ship’s exterior lights the only thing lighting up the dark space. The Fury was docked next door, but had been fully powered down - no one would be staying on it for the time being, as everyone had come to the collective agreement that it was just too Imperial. Everything inside of it was red and metal, and Lord Baras had access to the holoterminal. He couldn’t call them directly on the Mantis. 

Plus, the beds were more comfortable. 

“You’re going to name your varactyl ‘speeder’?” 

“Yes? Why not, is it a bad name? I’ve never had a pet before, so I don’t know how their names work…” 

Vette laughed, covering her mouth with one hand. “You know, sometimes I forget that you’re a bloodthirsty killing machine, when you say shit like that.” 

“Oh,” Aphadas grunted. He didn’t know what else to say in response. 

“Just sleep on a name, you don’t have to pick something tonight,” Vette told him. She patted his arm, then proceeded to let them into the ship. 

Aphadas put the varactyl to bed in a cage that the Mantis had conveniently in its cargo hold, while Vette went on ahead to bed. She was sleeping in the crew bunks with Mako, they were on the same level as the cargo hold, while the captain’s quarters (where Aphadas and Nisur were sleeping) were up a flight of stairs, at the opposite end of the ship from the cockpit. As far away from the Mantis’ engines as you could get, meaning the room was a little quieter than the rest of the ship. Not enough to make much of a difference, however. The cage Aphadas put the varactyl in was much bigger than the one it had been living in at the shop, and covered with a tarp and some blankets thrown in for comfort, the baby lizard seemed perfectly content to curl up and go back to sleep. Aphadas gave it one last pat on the head before he stood up and headed upstairs. 

As he climbed the stairs, he noticed that there was light on in the bridge, and the distinct glow of a holocall going on. He could hear voices, too, Nisur was talking to someone else he couldn’t place. 

Against what was probably his better judgement, Aphadas crept through the crew lounge towards the cockpit and stopped just outside the door to listen in.

“- Look, if you want to forfeit the entire Hunt, then by all means-” 

“I’m not forfeiting the hunt, I just don’t feel like rushing into Republic territory without armed back-up. I already did that once this month, and that’s enough.” 

“If you had told me you were doing this a month ago, I could have gotten on your official team, but you know Mandalorians and their damn traditions. I can’t help you, kid.” 

Nisur growled in frustration. 

“Besides, you have a Sith with you. Shouldn’t that be enough back-up? Or is he one of those pompous assholes who only know how to use a laser sword in theory?” 

“No, he’s good. I just don’t want him to think he has to carry us through a warzone. Mako is a good shot, but she’s still a kid, and the other woman I was telling you about, Vette, she’s… Well, she knows what she’s doing, but she’s-” 

“She’s not me, I get it Nisur. You know you can just say that you miss me and want to hang out. I can swing by Balmorra and we can grab drinks, I’d love to meet this Sith of yours-” 

“I am going to hang up on you.” Aphadas saw Nisur reach for the button on the console, and heard the person on the other end of the call laugh. 

“Okay, okay. Look, I’m in the system and if you really need help I can come bail you out. Only if you’re dying though, alright champ? I have faith you can-” 

“Goodnight, Vausk,” Nisur said firmly and cut off the holocall. 

 

Aphadas realized at that moment that he’d been eavesdropping and stepped into the cockpit, clearing his throat - a terrible rasping noise, thanks to the synthesizer. Nisur looked around at him, and smiled. 

“Welcome back, did you rescue Quinn from the monster?” 

“It trashed his office,” Aphadas admitted. “He seemed to be getting along with it, though. I may leave it with him again…” 

Nisur snorted. He had sounded tense while he’d been talking on the holocall, but he looked much more relaxed now. 

Aphadas shuffled his feet, then sighed a bit. “Who were you talking to? I apologize, I caught the last bit of that call…” 

Nisur grimaced. “Ah. Yeah, that was Vausk. He’s another Mando. I was trying to get his help to go through that warzone, but he can’t. Something about great hunt rules, it’s all a bunch of nerfshit, though, he’s just lazy.” 

Aphadas nodded. He’d heard the bit about Nisur being worried for him, and he knew that the nerves were probably well-founded. It had been obvious to everyone that he’d been on edge the entire time they’d been out of the city. He hadn’t told anyone yet, not even Vette knew, but she had commented at least twice on how edgy he was being. 

He’d shouted at her when she’d strayed too far off the roads. 

“I don’t like Balmorra,” Aphadas said eventually. 

“I don’t think anyone does,” Nisur commented. He stood up as he said as much, stretching, and Aphadas got distracted by the bit of his stomach that showed where his shirt was tugged up. 

He shook his head. “I suppose not, but… That’s not what I meant.” Aphadas ran a hand along his jaw, then tapped it pensively. “This happened here.” 

Nisur froze and looked over at him. “Kriff, that’s why… You said it was a landmine, didn’t you?” 

Aphadas nodded. “I don’t know the details beyond that, but… I keep thinking about it.” 

He shrugged. He did not actually want to make a big deal out of the matter, just inform Nisur why he might be on edge while there. Aphadas didn’t even know if mines were still a problem, the last time he’d been here there had still been fighting with the Republic forces going on. It had been an all-out war, he’d been told more than once. He was still bitter towards the Sith instructors that had decided to send a 19-year-old out there, but he supposed that he wasn’t the first - or the last. 

“Baras doesn’t know, does he?” 

Aphadas laughed. “Lord Baras wouldn’t care, even if he did. Vette doesn’t know, either, and she doesn’t have to… I just wanted to give some explanation for my behaviour.” 

Nisur nodded. “Yeah, I get it. I can suggest that Mako keep an eye out for mines, she has some bit of tech that can do that. Would that make you feel better?” 

Aphadas honestly had no idea, but he nodded anyway. “Maybe, but it’s probably a good idea, anyway.” 

Nisur grunted in reply. He stepped forward and patted Aphadas on the arm, looking up at him with a quizzical look on his face. Aphadas didn’t really know what he was thinking, but the urge to kiss him overcame him for a moment. He lifted up a hand - still in his gloves - and ran his thumb along Nisur’s cheekbone, fingers resting between his horns as he cupped the side of his head. He tilted his head in a show of asking for permission, and Nisur nodded ever-so-slightly at him. 

Aphadas bent down and kissed Nisur. When they pulled apart again, Aphadas smiled, then chuckled a bit. 

“What?” Nisur asked. 

“Did you hang up on the other bounty hunter because he called you champ?”

Nisur flinched, visibly, and groaned quietly. He gave Aphadas’ chest a half-hearted shove and stepped around him to exit the cockpit. For a second, Aphadas thought he’d annoyed him, but then Nisur called over his shoulder, “Are you coming to bed, or what?” 

Aphadas laughed, and took that retort as a yes. He followed Nisur out of the room and across the catwalks to their room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it! If you read to the end, thanks for reading my garbage...  
> Please go check out [the updated version](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8491933/chapters/19460944). It's better, and more true to the characters.


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